Botkiller
by Rexcaliburr
Summary: After BLU Medic Horst, RED Pyro Axel and RED FemSniper Terri are thrown into one team with a mix of REDs and BLUs to fight against Gray Mann, they start to dig deeper into their history and uncover a whole new realm involving themselves, their friends and possibly the entire Mann Co.
1. Welcome to Mannhattan

**A/N. Here's something for you: If you haven't read the prequel (actually, more like part one of this whole story), go read it. It's called Radioactive and trust me, you're going to have to read that if you wanna know what's going on here. Also, gonna change my intro style a bit to make things easier.**

**Horst and Schnaps belong to Derwen on DeviantArt**

**TF2 belongs to VALVe**

**Terri and Axel's personality belong to me.**

**Radioactive Part 2 – Botkiller**

**Chapter 15 - Mannhattan**

**6.27am, Mannhattan, Mann Co Industries.**

"Huh," Terri muttered as she stepped out of the teleporter into Mannhattan. "New place. Looks like eventually Mann Co's gonna take over the whole world." Beside her, Pyro walked, axe resting against his shoulder as he whistled the same tune he did as always. For some reason, the only clear thing that ever came from the Pyro with his mask on was the whistle.

Mannhattan looked peaceful, with the water past the docks sloshing quietly, the loading dock which was their arena silent. Pale dawn light was just starting to wash over the loading dock, giving it a soft pale yellow glow. The duo wandered along the area, from the resupply room which they had teleported into all the way out to the opposite end.

"Are those… control points?" Terri asked as they passed a giant metal shutter. On the metal shutter was a large blue circle with a 'B' printed in it, very similar to the ones in the Control Point maps. On the floor was a rectangular area, marked out with yellow and black striped tape. "Huh. Maybe this was an old Control Point map?" Pyro shrugged. It didn't look like it to him.

As they entered the loading dock, Terri was sure to look around for good places to camp out with her bow. The area was pretty sparse; it didn't look like there was any hiding place. They stayed for a moment, looking out at the slow sunrise from above the wall, before turning back to the resupply room.

They were just nearing the hatch when the teleporter spun, glittering just a bit as Horst stepped out from it. He raised his eyebrows at Terri and Pyro, though he didn't look too surprised to see them. "Guten morgen," he yawned, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest. He had lazily donned the Team Captain, and he clearly looked pleased about Terri wearing the Anger he had gifted to her.

She pushed down the bandana, keeping the hood up. It cast light shadows over her face in the milky light, darkening her eyes a bit. "Hey Horst," Terri greeted in return. Pyro gave a nod to him. "Didn't expect you to be here so early," Horst said, taking off his glasses to wipe the lens before slipping them back on. Terri shrugged, sitting down with her back to the wall next to Horst's feet. Pyro joined them, settling on the floor with his flamethrower resting across his lap. "I can say the same to you. You're the one who needs more sleep," the girl teased, taking off her bow and putting it on the ground by her lap.

"So. Powers. How are you working vith zhem?" Horst asked, clearly interested in the topic. Instantly Terri's hands felt awkward, so she settled for stroking her bow with them. "I dunno. Normal I guess, haven't melted anyone else's face off yet, or destroyed their property. Gotta hand it to you, doc," she said, scratching the back of her neck with a hand.

Horst smiled. "Nein, I'm only helping vhere I can." The teleporter next to them flickered and buzzed, Spy and Sniper stepping out of it. "Oi swear, ya spook, next time Oi'm going first," Sniper growled. Spy flicked his hand dismissively. "In your dreams, bushman." Then leaning down, he gave Terri a quick kiss, ignoring the fact that Horst and Sniper were there to see. Terri blushed, Horst diverting his eyes away, Pyro pretending he didn't see anything and Sniper groaning.

Horst let his attention wander to the teleporter again as a couple of his own teammates stepped out of it, nodding their greeting to Horst and the REDs they were stuck with for the next few days. Or weeks. Or even months, depending on how tough these bots were.

"Aye lassie, ye know 'im?" Demo asked as he settled down on the floor between Terri and Pyro. He gestured to Horst with a thumb, but Horst sensed no hostility behind the questions. Just curiousity.

"Not really, Demo. Just see him a lot on the battlefield. Figured since we're working together for goodness knows now long I may as well talk. There isn't much to do before seven in the morning, y'know," she shrugged, hoping he'd buy it. Demo stared at her for a moment, then shrugged, offering a hand to Horst. "Tavish DeGroot," he said. Horst shook it. "Horst-Dieter Ahlbach. Isn't zhat control points map named after you?" he asked, thinking back to the last time they were at DeGroot keep. Boy, that was hell. It had been a bloody massacre of bat, knife, sword and crossbow, no guns involved.

"Aye, lad. Me parents were…" He started. Terri rolled her eyes, glancing over to Horst. "Great, you've started him. He's not gonna shut up till he has to go blow something up," she mumbled. Next to her, Pyro was staring at a lighter flame, watching the small light flicker with interest.

For the next hour or so, mercenaries came into the new arena, checking out the place, familiarizing themselves with the loading dock. It was around 8.15 when all the mercenaries were there and Admin contacted them.

"Mission begins in sixty minutes. I hope your affairs are in order," she snarled. One hour eh? That was one hour to do nothing. It wouldn't take long to upgrade her bow as much as she could with a thousand dollars and it definitely wouldn't take more than a minute to walk to the other side of the dock where the robots would be spilling in from.

"So this whole… robots thing, how's it work?" Terri asked. She hadn't been to Mann versus Machine before, but she was sure the others had. "Vell, basically a whole bunch of robots come in and you kill zhem. Zhey run on money, for some reason," Horst explained. He had enough of dealing with bots to know exactly what was going on.

Terri nodded thoughtfully. "And these bots, they're basically like us but made of metal?" Pyro shook his head. "Yhh whhsh," he mumbled. "Some are, but zhe rest are huge and incredibly difficult to handle. But I don't zhink it's anyzhing ve can't deal vith," Horst shrugged.

Time passed slowly, the mercs hanging around, going outside, coming back in for a bit then going back out again. Terri was patient, but this was ridiculous. She was just about to have a meltdown when Admin hissed at them again, "Mission begins in sixty seconds."

"About time," the BLU Scout huffed, grabbing his scattergun and leaving. The nine of them filed out, placing themselves in the loading dock, weapons at ready. Engineer had built a sentry perched up by the staircase, a dispenser further down at easy access to the others.

From far above the ledge, a large blue spaceship-like machine opened up, revealing the first set of bots. They rumbled to life, Terri could hear, and in a thunderous clang of metal against cement floor, the bots charged towards them.

_Here goes nothing._


	2. Dig deep and find trouble

**A/N. How do those stories out there get so much attention? I'm curious, because no story I've ever written got that much reviews and favourites/follows. I was hoping Radioactive would get somewhere close to that, looks like I'm going to have to work harder.**

**Horst and Schnaps belong to Derwen**

**TF2 belongs to VALVe**

**Terri and Axel's personality belong to me**

**Radioactive Part 2 – Botkiller**

**Chapter 16**

**11.34am, Mannhattan, Mann Co Industries.**

Respawn flickered as Terri emerged from death once again, a scowl drawn upon her face. This was probably the hundredth time she'd Respawn already. What was she thinking, assuming this whole fighting robots would be easy? She turned to the Upgrades counter, seeing what she could get for her bow with the money she'd earned from bots.

"Let's see… reload speed, damage, I've got projectile penetration already… dammit! Not enough for damage even," she mumbled to herself. She settled quickly for ammo capacity, seeing as twelve arrows were seriously not enough for her at this rate.

From outside, she heard an alarm go off, followed by a lot of yelling, then Admin. "Security alert, they have captured the gate!" Well shit. Pulling her hood lower over her eyes, Terri left Respawn, heading straight to Gate B where the team was trying to push the robots back from capturing it.

"What happened?" she asked the Engineer, desperately trying to build a sentry without it getting crushed. "Damn robots got A before we got there. We're tryin' to make sure they never git here," he said as the sentry beeped and roared to life. "There we go, should keep them off our backs for a bit." Storming out of the gates was a Soldier. Just, a very big Soldier with a giant burst-fire rocket launcher on crits. If now were the time for a joke, Terri would have called it a Giant Soldier with a Rocket launcher on steroids.

Scout had come running back to Engie, demanding for a dispenser. "C'mon hardhat! I'm dyin' here!" he begged as the girl fired an arrow over his head. "Scout?" she said, taking a step back, eyes wide as the Soldier turned towards here, looking very angry. "Yeah girly?" Her eyes shifted from it to him.

Without second thought, she grabbed him and flung him aside, leaping after him as a good ten or something rockets flew their way. She crashed on top of him, bowling him over a good few meters away down the ramp. She didn't even hear the scream from the Engineer that followed as metal exploded against metal and flesh.

"Shit," Scout snarled, pushing Terri off him. "Medic! Doc, c'mon man! God dammit, where's the Nazi when ya need him?" Shaking the blurriness out of her eyes, Terri pushed herself to her feet. She was starting to regret ever agreeing to take on the job but she had signed the contract and pretty much here till she grew old. And that was a long time.

Horst heard Scout call, but ignored the younger mercenary as he trained his Medigun on the reanimator of the Engineer. "Pity there's no reanimator for sentries," he muttered as the Engineer came back to life. "I got no time ta be dead," the Engineer snarled, already starting to build up another sentry. Hopefully this one wouldn't go down so easily.

Axel had been the one to take down the giant soldier with his knack of airblasting rockets just at the right time, but the Pyro looked exhausted, despite being unable to see the look in his orange eyes. "Hmm khh dhh thhmms anhhmhrr," he mumbled, using a crate for balance. Terri got an eyeful of him and instantly felt quite bad for the mumbling firebug. He did so much work and yet didn't get as much recognition as he deserved.

"Pyrocracker? You okay?" The Huntress asked as she approached him. The robots had stopped coming, though clearly that wasn't going to last long and soon the ten of them would be plunged into battle again. Pyro was panting, doubled over in exhaustion. "Ghht Mhhdkkk," he sighed, before letting out a rattled cough.

"Medic!" Terri called, crouched by her friend. In less than five seconds Horst had appeared, aiming his gun as Axel and letting the healing beams engulf the arsonist. Behind them the battle had roared to life again. Screaming, vicious life. Axel stood up, gripping his flamethrower again with new energy. He nodded his thanks to Horst and left his cover.

"The hell you waiting here for?" Terri snapped at Horst, starting to get tired of the battle already. Horst looked slightly surprised at her sudden change in attitude, and instantly Terri regretted it, though she said nothing. He nodded to her and stood back up, leaving her to get her hits from her unseen location as she popped out of cover to take a single shot before ducking again. A small pipe rolled her way, catching her attention. Something about the pipe, even though it was just part of a robot, attracted her to it.

_It's just a robot gib, Terri. Nothing special about it… _But despite telling herself this, she felt the need to have it. So reaching out, she took the tiny scrap and pocketed it.

She had taken a second shot when Demo joined her, oil and blood spattered on his grenade launcher. "This is getting ridiculous, don't they ever stop coming?" She hissed, only partially to him. Demo frowned. "Aye, lassie. Just-"

"Do _not _let the bomb get to the hatch!" Admin screamed at that. What?! Instantly the entire team was running back to the hatch, ignoring the pain they were all suffering, reaching back just in time to see a Scout leap into the hatch with the bomb on it's back.

"Ah, piss," Sniper sighed as the bomb detonated, sending anyone too close to the hatch flying into pieces. He leapt down from his perch, returning to the Respawn room with Spy by his side. "That was unfortunate," the Frenchman stated flatly. Sniper sighed as he stepped past the hand of his cousin who had gone up in the explosion along with pretty much the rest of the time. He'd learnt not to let things like this get to him so easily, and so far that skill had proven useful.

The two Support classes had returned to Respawn to find the rest of the team in there, sitting around on the floor moodily.

"I'm ain't likin' this," Engineer stated, resting his arms on his knees which were up against his chest.

Yeah!" Scout piped in, "'S ain't like our usual robot ass-kicking rounds."

"Vell, clearly Grey's been up to somezhing new."

"Who's Grey?"

"Thh ghh whh mhhkkhs thhs rhhbhhts."

"I thought he was dead?"

"Guess not," Horst shrugged, sitting back. "Either zhat, or someone else is doing his vork for him now."

Terri's eyes darkened at all the possibilities. Maybe this whole robots thing and the tiny pipe had something to do with her power. The pipe! Scrambling, she fished it out of her pocket, staring at it for a minute. Axel had noticed the action and poked Horst, gesturing silently to Terri who was turning the pipe over and over to see if there was anything special about it. But it just looked like a piece of scrap.

"Vhat- oh. Huntress, can I speak vith you for a moment?" Horst asked, careful not to use names around the rest. His and her teammates didn't need to know that they knew each other on a more personal level to the extent of names since they hadn't introduced themselves in front of the others. Snapping back from her thoughts, Terri looked up, eyes wide and alert.

"Huh what? Oh yeah, sure. C'mon Firecracker," she said, getting to her feet and following Horst outside. He led her out of sight from the window in Respawn, behind a bunch of crates. "Somezhing bothering you?" He asked as Pyro settled down on the ground next to Terri.

She wasn't too sure if she should say it all at once. Then, deciding now was as good a time as any, she nodded. "Kinda. I found this scrap metal while I was camping out near the sentry," she started, fishing out the small pipe from her pocket and placing it on the floor, "and I had this sudden need for it, like it was calling out to me. And I'm thinking it might have some sort of link to my powers. Like whoever's making those bots has something rather similar to me. I dunno, it's just a thought," she said as Horst examined the piece of metal.

"Doesn't look anyzhing special to me," he commented, handing it back. Instantly the girl pocketed it again. "I know, I didn't think so too, but just something about it. I look at it and it's just… mine, y'know?"

Horst lapsed into silence as he thought about it, when Pyro chimed in. "Khhndhh lhkk mmh chhrmm." Horst glanced at him. "A vhat?" "Charm," Terri repeated, "Something to hold in the power, right?" Horst fell silent again as he wondered if he had any charm himself. "Vell, I don't recall having one myself, but come see me again tonight in my room and ve'll look through zhe net and some books I haff on zhis."

"Chhn Ihh chmm?" Axel asked, suddenly very interested in the topic. Maybe he could find out a little more about his own element too. "Yes Pyro, you can come too." Standing up, the three of them shared a mutual aura of excitement on finding out more about semi-supernatural beings like them. "Guess I'll see you tonight then."


	3. Cyranok's Touch

**A/N. Eh not much to say for this Author's Note except that I'd seriously love for some comments and reviews to come my way. **

**Horst and Schnaps belong to Derwen**

**TF2 belongs to VALVe**

**Terri and Axel's personality belong to me.**

**Radioactive part 2 – Botkiller**

**Chapter 17**

**8.16pm, Mannhattan Apartments, Mann Co Industries.**

Dinner was not always the best of times for the mercenaries. Usually it consisted of a simple meal and silence from most of the mercenaries. Terri had observed that dinner with RED always had the same things going on. Scout would eat and talk about some girl had met on his trip to Las Vegas so anything that came out of his mouth was incoherent; Soldier and Demo would be arguing about the Loch Ness Hamster; Pyro would take his food to his room to eat; Heavy would make small talk with Engineer and Medic; Sniper would eat in his own van and Spy would spend time with herself.

But dinner with the BLUs was different. It was a bit more… civil, if anything. Quite surprising, actually, because on the field she had thought of the BLUs are brutal creatures that came from the darkest corners of the planet. But today, they seemed quite alright, introducing themselves to the other team since they were probably going to be stuck here for awhile, seeing how the robots had trashed them.

"Name's Zack," the BLU Scout introduced as he poked his steak. Terri kind of liked him, his hair was ruffled and fluffier than the RED Scout's. She liked it. "I am Dean Reeves, but all you _maggots _will address me as Sir or Soldier!" Soldier said, in a voice that seemed on the edge of screaming, but not quite there yet.

Axel had once again retreated to his room, though nobody needed to know anything about him except he loved fire and was possibly mental. Well, that's what everyone thought. But Terri knew better. "Tavish DeGroot. Me parents were…" Demo slurred, although the Russian next to him knew better than to let him start on his story about DeGroot Keep again. The Heavy had introduced himself as Mikhail Asmik, Engineer as Dell, Medic as Horst, Sniper as Lawrence, Spy as Alexandre and Terri as herself, of course.

"So girly," Zack started, "What made ya come take a guy's job?" Terri shot him an unamused look. "The fact that you guys hired a girl too made me." Zack laughed, leaning back in his seat. "Wasn't my idea," he said, glancing at Soldier. "That girl has made our lives a lot easier!" he argued back. "Oh yeah, made your life easier now that you have a girl to swoon over!"

"Odd, Zack, you look like you'd be the one swooning over her," Dell said, picking into his food. The Scout rolled his eyes. "She ain't even that young and pretty! What is she, thirty?" _She looked okay on the field to me. But then again I've never gone up and personal with her, _Terri thought as Spy wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Want to go outside? Just you and me," he whispered, his breath warm against her neck.

She liked the idea of being alone with him, but she noticed Horst looking at her. As soon as she caught his gaze, he looked away, a simple reminder she had something else to do. Pulling away from Spy, she sighed. "Can't tonight. I have something important to do," she said, feeling a bit guilty.

For a second she saw his gaze go cold as he followed her eyes to Horst who was chatting idly with Dell and Mikhail. _Shit, no! I'm not in a god damn relationship with him, if that's what you're thinking, _she snarled in her mind, hoping he'd get it somehow. "Tomorrow night, okay?" she asked, snapping his attention back to her. "Tomorrow night and we'll go out," she said, hoping she hadn't pissed him off. He thought about it, then nodded slowly. "Okay, tomorrow night, petit." He gave her a quick kiss before getting up. "Good night," he whispered, disappearing into the apartments just behind Respawn that they were staying in.

Horst had gotten up, glancing at Terri, a silent request for her to follow. The girl pardoned herself from the table, before disappearing up the stairs to the building. Horst had left his door open for Terri to come in. Axel was already on the floor, crossed legged, and surprisingly, not in his fire-retardant suit.

"Close the door," Horst said as she stepped in. She locked the door behind and slid onto the floor next to Axel. "Surprise to see you like this," she said as Horst took out his laptop and set it on his lap, flipping open the screen. "Mm, it wouldn't be a surprise if you enter my room late at night. Not that you'd or anyone would have a reason to do that," he sighed, flopping onto his back.

"Research time," Horst said, nudging a pile of books towards them. "I don't know why I even have zhese books and I haven't read zhem so zhere might be somezhing in zhem of use." Axel and Terri both took a book each and began flipping through it, eyes absorbing all the information.

Minutes lapsed into hours, and Horst had no idea how long it had been when suddenly Axel sat up, orange eyes reading furiously. "Found somezhing?" he asked, setting his laptop down and leaning over. "Kinda. It says here that most people with a supernatural ability will have a charm of sorts. Not all have it, but it usually means that person's ability was born into them and not given to them at a later stage. Terri, you got that pipe?"

She reached into her pocket and produced the small scrap, feeling a bit insecure as she set it down on the ground. "Hm. Nozhing special about it comes off to me still," Horst commented. Terri resisted the urge to snatch it back off the floor. "Have you ever had any… out-of-body experience?" Axel asked, setting the book back on the floor.

"I don't think so. Not one that I remember, at least," she said. She didn't even know what an out-of-body experience was like. "Then it was probably something given from birth. Something that runs in your blood," Axel said. Horst thought about it. If it was something that ran in blood, then maybe there were traces of it in her blood itself.

"I zhink I could find somezhing in your blood," he muttered, opening his laptop again. "You want my blood? Yeah sure Doc," Terri said, "you can get a lot of it on the field. You have no idea how many times I'm dying from blood loss out there." But Horst shook his head. "Any blood you lose out zhere is contaminated with oil and vhatever."

She buried her head in her hands. "Yeah sure, draw blood, whatever," she mumbled. Horst got up. "Vait here." He left the room, closing the door behind me. As soon as he was gone, Axel turned to Terri. "Don't like needles?" he asked. Terri nodded. "Naturally," Axel commented as Horst returned with a syringe. Moodily, she let him draw blood from her. It looked like how blood should look. Dark, red and sticky. "Don't look anything special to me," she commented as Horst pocketed the small vial.

"Vell, zhere might be somezhing in it. I dunno. I'll test it out tomorrow," he said, picking up his laptop again. The three of them lapsed into silence again, going through the books. They hadn't showed any other results, but something Horst found on the net had piqued his interest. "Vhat…"

Instantly Terri and Axel were looking over his shoulder at the laptop screen. It was a webpage with myths on supernatural beings and the origins of their powers. Most of it seemed like a whole lot of bullshit, but some looked rather reliable and realistic.

"Let's see, vhat have ve here," he muttered, scrolling down. His eyes ran through the results, dismissing most of them as fictional and utter rubbish. "Wait!" Axel said. "Scroll up, I think I saw something."

Horst scrolled back up, clicking on something that read _Cyranok's Touch. _Reading through, everything it said had matched Terri's abilities too. _Runs in family blood… may skip generations… corrosive touch… charm… might need to be triggered by a form of acid…_

Terri sat back. All this information was too much to take in. She frowned, and Horst looked back at her. "Go sleep," he said, "ve'll tell you if ve haff found anyzhing tomorrow."


	4. Red stone and fountains

**A/N. I wish I knew about NaNoWriMo earlier.**

**Horst and Schnaps belong to Derwen  
****TF2 belongs to VALVe  
****Terri and Axel's personality belong to me.**

* * *

**Radioactive part 2 – Botkiller  
****Chapter 18  
****9.57am, Mannhattan Apartments, Mann Co Industries**

_Red. That was all she saw. That was the only thing around her. Red stone, blood, fire. Her head pounded, screams filling her ears. But she was almost deaf to it, wandering around the endless plains of the hell she was trapped in. Her feet were bare, feeling the hot stone beneath the soles of her feet._

_The walls were covered in spider-like creatures clinging to human bodies, mouths frozen in screams. The beasts eyed her as she walked along, one reaching out curiously to touch her. She was scared, to say the least, but her body showed none of it. Like she was there, but not really there. Her mind was curled up tight in a shaking ball of fear while her body just walked, staring straight, unaware of her surroundings. She didn't blink, didn't say anything. Just walked._

_Ahead sat a fountain. It was beautiful, unlike most other things in this other world. It was made of white marble with gold engravings along the rims, spilling crystal clear water into the base of the fountain. Atop the fountain, right where the water came out from, was a marble statue of her, standing there, bow in hand, arrow drawn. Gently, she reached out a hand to touch the white fountain._

_As her fingers touched the fountain, it crumbled away into pieces, each piece then turning to dust. She stepped back in horror, staring at her hand. Behind her, one of the spider-beasts approached her, pinning her to the floor with needle sharp legs. Blood leaked from her limbs where the hideous creature held her down, though she felt no pain._

_So there she was, lying on the hot stone floor with a being so terrifying above her. She was powerless to do anything, as her skin began to crumble away like the fountain had. Above her, the beast looked up, getting off her and skittering away as a figure approached._

_He had more of a human figure than anything else there; tall, thin and old. Very old. His skin sagged badly, his eyes were clouded though they looked full of life. He held a cane made from birch wood, hand carved, she could tell. Draped loosely across his body was a robe of sorts, very oriental. He stood over her, glancing down with his glazed eyes at her._

"_So this is you," he said, as she lay staring up at him. It made him look all the more intimidating. She couldn't say anything, although her eyes begged him to help her. "No one similar to you has ever managed to escape here." Where was here? "And neither can you. These people," he gestured to the people trapped in the walls, "were all like you. But your friends can help you. Help me."_

_What the hell was going on? And what did he mean by friends? Did it just mean Horst and Axel? Or all the mercenaries? "Your friends can destroy this forever and set all these souls free. You need to keep searching for him."_

_By then she was nothing but just a few parts of herself, the rest having had crumbled away into nothingness. And soon, the last of her mind disappeared along with the rest of her body, falling into the endless pit of darkness._

"Wake up!" Axel cried, shaking Terri. The girl cried out but didn't open her eyes, just curling into a ball. She was shaking and her skin felt particularly hot, and Axel knew there was clearly something wrong. "Shit," he hissed, leaving her to find Horst. This wasn't something he could or knew how to fix.

Horst had been finishing up paperwork in the infirmary, furiously writing at his desk when Axel burst in, wild and clearly stressed. "Vhat can I do for you, Pyro?" he asked. Axel instantly burst into a string of words so fast they were clearly comprehensible. "Something's going on, I don't know what, but she's not waking up and I don't know how to fix this so you gotta help her…" He grabbed Horst's arm and was dragging him out.

"Vhat- Pyro slow down!" He snapped, pulling his arm out of Axel's grip. The arsonist turned back to him, shocked and stumped. "Explain everyzhing, _slowly,_" Horst said, folding his arms across his chest. "I don't know, Medic. But- just- Terri's in trouble," he said, unable to focus his orange eyes on anything. Frowning, Horst approached Terri's room, pausing as he saw the state she had been reduced to.

As he lightly touched her, she wailed, shying away from him. Then, gripping both her shoulders, he shook her roughly, though the only response he had gotten was her lashing out. Not good. "Terri!" he snapped, slapping her hard. Still no response, but at least she'd fallen a bit silent.

Hauling her over his shoulder, he carried her back to his room, sending Axel off. "If zhe team realizes so many of us are gone, zhey're bound to suspect somezhing," he said, shooing him off. The firebug knew better than to argue, and reluctantly, turned and left to get his mask.

If the team had noticed their Pyro being a bit out of it, they didn't mention it, clearly thinking he'd go ballistic on them if it triggered anything. And frankly speaking, he was glad they weren't asking, as much as it was easy for everything that came out of his mouth to get transformed into incoherent mumbling.

But from the way they glanced at him from time to time, clearly they knew something was up. Pyro was never this quiet. And he had noticed it too, so to get them off his back, he began whistling the same tune he always did, and almost instantly it seemed like no one ever noticed him in the first place.

Horst had given Terri a shot of morphine to shut her up and let her rest, but there wasn't much else he could do as she bounced between unconsciousness and subconsciousness. He couldn't read her thoughts or ask her about it, though he was dying to know what was happening. Clearly something was not right here. Either this whole power of hers was a lot more vicious than he expected, or she had some condition she never told him about. And more than likely it was the first.

He stood over her as she mumbled something about red stone. Quickly he scribbled it down on a notepad. He'd ask her about anything she said while half-conscious later when she was fully alert of her surroundings. Her skin was still rather warm, though it was cooling down by now. Explaining her inability to be out on the field was going to be difficult, and he didn't exactly want to leave her alone in case she woke up or said something particularly important.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, SHE CANNOT FIGHT?!" Soldier screamed. Horst didn't flinch, but blocked the path to the infirmary. "I zhink I know vhat I am talking about," he growled, refusing to let Soldier in. "SHE IS PERFECTLY FINE," Soldier yelled back, trying to get in again, but Horst snarled at him, a warning to back off. "You are trying my patience…" he hissed, narrowing his eyes. It was unlike him to get this angry but the last thing he needed was a chaotic Soldier rampaging around his infirmary and possibly flinging Terri into another fit.

Soldier seemed a bit taken aback by the Medic's vicious warning, and reluctantly, left, demanding the team work harder on the field now that they were short a member. Horst wanted to stay with the girl, although he knew that just wasn't possible. He put on his coat, looking back at her. Sighing, he left the room and closed the door behind him, leaving a note on a tray next to the table she was lying on.

Horst had been a bit out of it on the field, mind wandering back to the previous night and Terri, who, hopefully, had read the note if she was awake and not gone ballistic or freaked out. He was performing a bit poorer than usual, and his teammates had obviously noticed the drop in his performance. "Get going!" Soldier yelled in his ear, snapping him out of it. Pyro was also doing a bit worse than usual, and made up for by going mad on a Giant Charged Soldier and taking it down purely by airblasting.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Horst tried to focus, forcing his mind away from distractions. _Now is not the time for other things. Now is the time to focus on killing robots, _he told himself every time he caught himself thinking about other things.

The team had returned victorious, although this was just Wave 1 of 7. And according to the LED screen in Respawn that stated which wave they were on and what they were going to face, Wave 2 looked like Wave 1 times three and on steroids. The team had dispersed, each heading to do their own things, not caring what anyone else did. They were tired, and anything anyone but themselves were doing was considered deeply unimportant. That left Horst and Axel to be able to talk privately without the risk of anyone listening in. Terri had woken up twice, only being able to get a few words out before slipping into unconsciousness again, much to the disappointment of Horst.

"So what, you think this is something related back to her powers?" Axel asked, fingers idly stroking the mask in his hands. "Yes. But vhat I vorry is zhat she's also experiencing out-of-body experiences, or near-death experiences. Vhich isn't good, because clearly if zhat's happening zhen zhis power of hers is a bit too much for her body to handle," Horst said. Axel sat down, not sure of what to make of the situation when behind them, Terri blinked.

"Guys…?" she mumbled, voice hoarse and throaty. That was enough to catch the attention of both of them, who approached her. She pushed herself into a sitting position, feeling weak and exhausted. "You okay?" Axel asked, offering her a cup of water. She downed the entire cup before nodding. "Tired as hell, but I guess I'm okay. What happened?"

"You went into some sort of fit or somezhing," Horst said, wiping the lens of his glasses. "And you said quite a number of zhings vhile you vere out too." He reached back to his desk for the notepad, handing it to her. "Remember any of zhis?"

The minute Terri looked at the notepad, her expression blanked. "What the hell is this?" she asked, handing it back. "You don't remember any of zhis?" Horst asked. Terri shook her head. "Maybe she'll remember it with time," Axel suggested. Horst stepped away from them, sitting back down at his desk. He was deep in thought, trying to link back events to form something complete. It was like a puzzle. Except that more than half the pieces had been thrown out, leaving an unfinished puzzle that resembled something, but wasn't quite clear.

Suddenly, Terri's senses were on full alert. "Shit," she snarled, searching her pockets madly. Axel sat up. "What?"

"Where's my pipe?"

"What pipe?"

"The one I always have."

"Vhat?"

"Where is it?!"

"Calm down! I have it," Axel said, pulling out the small scrap of metal. Terri had to resist the urge to lunge for it, feeling a lot more comfortable once the cool piece of metal touched her palm.

"Wait- I just realized something. Horst, that's what's causing it," Axel said, his eyes lighting up like a lightbulb. "Vhat's causing vhat?" "That metal. It acts as a controller on her powers, so it goes out of hand when she doesn't have it. She needs it to be with her all the time."

Horst didn't look entirely convinced. "Are you sure?" He asked. It made sense, with her whole need to have it, but it didn't seem very convincing that one tiny piece of metal could keep her in check. "I'm quite positive about this," Axel grinned. If that little metal pipe was the cause of her going into a frenzy, then as long as she had it, that problem wouldn't rise anymore.

One problem solved, a million others to go.


	5. Spilling secrets

**A/N. I'm running out of things to say for Author's Notes.**

**Horst and Schnaps belong to Derwen**

**TF2 belongs to VALVe**

**Terri and Axel's personality belong to me.**

**Radioactive part 2 – Botkiller**

**Chapter 19**

**2.17pm, Mannhattan, Mann Co Industries.**

"This sucks on ice," Scout hissed, wiping oil from his face. The team had been unsuccessful in their fight against Wave 2 of the robots, much to Admin's disappointment. "Tell me about it," Sniper sighed, taking of his aviators to wipe at the lenses. They had been pushed back all the way to the point they were destroying robots just as they were jumping into the hatch with bombs till one Giant Heavy had been strong enough to tank anything they threw at it and made it to the hatch.

"Oi'm gonna take a bath," Sniper said, staring down at his oil stained clothes. If it wasn't blood it was oil. He'd never go a day without getting something on his shirt, though it was nice to sometime. Even in ceasefire something would mess his clothes up.

"Vell hurry up," Horst sighed, taking off his coat as he made his way to the infirmary. Usually he liked to wait for the rest to finish using the few bathrooms they had to avoid Soldier's yelling for them to hurry up and stop bathing like women and also to avoid some… odd conversations that he was sure would arise with men like these, but he was feeling really icky right now. Good for Terri, at least she didn't have to deal with sharing a bathroom with nine men, she had a private one for herself, being a girl. And the only one at that.

In the meantime, he'd do some paperwork. Draping his coat across the chair, he sat back, twirling a pen in his fingers as he tried to do his work. He sat there for a minute, trying to get the words into his head. He knew there were words there but he didn't exactly know what they were saying. He twirled his pen a few more times before giving up, setting the pen down and leaning back.

Outside he could hear the showers running, water pattering rapidly against ceramic tile. He closed his eyes, just letting the sound of the showers fill his ears. He rested his head back on his chair, when Schnaps leapt up onto his lap. "Vhat- oh, hello Schnaps," he said, stroking the cat. Wait. He didn't recall bringing Schnaps here, she had been left in Teufort under the care of the Sniper.

"How did you get here?" He asked, scratching Schnaps behind the ear. Affectionately, the cat pushed her head up against Horst chest, purring loudly. He smiled. He loved Schnaps right to the core and would do anything for her (although getting up at the most unearthly hours to feed her is a bit of a ridiculous request), and in return the cat gave her love to Horst.

With wide eyes the feline leapt up onto the table, stepping neatly through piles of paper and brushing her tail across everything, claiming it to be hers. She hadn't been there for more than half an hour and already she was comfortable in her new surroundings. "Vould kitty vant somezhing to eat?" Horst offered, realizing he hadn't brought cat food with him here. Sniper was probably panicking right now on the disappearance of Schnaps. Schnaps didn't respond, but she licked her lips eagerly at the thought of food.

Chuckling, Horst got up and left the infirmary, closing the doors behind him. The last thing he needed was Schnaps running about Mannhattan and getting lost into some crate along the loading dock. The bathroom was still quite noisy, indicating he couldn't bathe just yet. He rummaged through the fridge for something Schnaps could eat, changing upon Soldier's ribs.

He considered taking the ribs for a second, weighing the pros and cons of it. Schnaps would love it for sure, but Soldier would come down on him and his cat if he realized. Deciding it was not worth it, he put the container of ribs back in the fridge. There wasn't much in the fridge, so he resorted to looking into the cupboards. He found an unopened bottle of full cream milk. It wasn't real food, but it would have to do. The next thing he had was an expired can of luncheon meat, and Schnaps was too precious to be eating expired canned food.

"Found yer cat, huh?" A thick Australian voice asked. Horst turned around, holding the bottle of milk to see Terri's cousin leaning against the wall. He wore a simple white undershirt and a pair of long pants like he always did when not in uniform and not required to wear a proper shirt. "The little bugger was in moi van, sleepin' under the table. Wouldn't budge when Oi got me cousin to come get her. Though it was hers but she said it was yers," he shrugged.

"Vell, sorry she got into your van, she vas supposed to be staying in Teufort vith your BLU counterpart," Horst said, opening the bottle and pouring it into a dish for Schnaps to lap at from. "Nawh, 's okay. Bloody adorable thing," Sniper said. Then, hearing his name being called, he turned. "See ya Doc."

Horst just nodded as he capped the bottle back and put it back into the fridge, heading back to the infirmary where Schnaps would be waiting for him. Sure enough, the cat was thumping her tail impatiently, getting up with a loud meow as Horst came in, white cream sloshing from the bowl. He set it down on the floor in a corner where he or anyone could step on it or disturb Schnaps as she eagerly lapped up the milk, getting cream on her whiskers and muzzle.

"So, where ya wanna go?" Terri asked, leaning across the table. There wasn't much in Mannhattan to see, not in this part of town for sure. And she could use the time to try figure out more about her powers but she'd already promised Spy the personal time. She had kept the pipe on a chain around her ankle to avoid it being seen, as she knew scrap metal pipes weren't the best option for jewelry and Spy did not need to know.

"Mm, I was thinking of just walking and seeing where we go," Spy suggested. Getting up, Terri pulled on her coat. "Sounds good to me. Let's go," she said, leaning across the table to peck Spy quickly before heading back to Respawn and out into the loading dock. The docks weren't the best place to walk, so turning towards the apartments, she left first, leaving Spy to catch up.

They stayed in silence for a moment, just walking with the evening sun behind them and empty apartments ahead. Terri didn't want to break the silence. She liked it. They didn't know where to walk, simply going straight and peering into alleyways and turns. This was one of Mannhattan's quietest places, when the mercs weren't blowing it up, of course.

Eventually, the couple had settled down on a rooftop of an old building, sitting together, still in silence. Then Spy broke it. "You've been spending an awful lot of time with ze Docteur," he commented. Terri went rigid. Well shit, what was she going to say? She searched his eyes for any kind of anger at her but found nothing, though she knew he was good at hiding emotions.

"It's nothing, Spy. We just talk about things," she said, trying to keep things vague. Spy raised an eyebrow. "Like what?" _God dammit Terri, you and your bloody mouth! _"Cats, work, usual stuff. He's got a cat, y'know," she said, hoping to redirect the conversation. But Spy pressed on. "What else?"

"What do you mean, what else?" Terri asked, playing dumb. Hopefully it would be enough to get him off her back. "You spend _a lot _of time with him. Is there something I should know about?" Spy asked.

That made Terri flare. _He thinks I'm cheating on him for Horst? What the- Horst is married! _"Are you saying I'm cheating on you?" she asked, standing up. Spy looked a bit surprised at the sudden action, and got up to comfort her. "Non, I'm just asking. Because you do talk to him a lot and-"

"You know just because I talk to another guy it doesn't mean I'm cheating on you for him right?" Terri asked, completely enraged. She hadn't realized she was backing up against a metal platform. "Terri, I'm not sayin-" "Then what _are _you saying?" She demanded, when she noticed Spy's gaze flicker to something behind her.

The entire metal platform she had pressed up against had two giant holes in them, corroded away by her hands. "Is that…" "_Shit," _Terri snarled, looking at her hands and up at Spy. Now he knew. "You have… magical powers? Is that what you've been seeing Medic about? Did he do this to you?!" Spy asked, his voice turning cold and accusing. Terri didn't know what to say. She wanted to scream, _Horst would never do that to me! How the fuck do you dare accuse him of something like that? You don't even know him!, _but nothing came out of her mouth.

"You have _magical powers _and you never tell me?" Spy demanded, taking a step towards her. She flinched a bit, refusing to let her eyes meet. "I- I didn't think-" "You didn't think what? That it was my right to know?!"

"How the fuck is it _your _right to know?"

"How is it not?"

"Because it doesn't bloody affect you!"

"I am your boyfriend!"

"What difference does that make?"

"You could have told me!"

"That doesn't bloody make any sense!" Terri screamed, swallowing the lump she felt rising in her throat. Straightening herself, she stared him in the eye. "Spy, whether you still want to be my boyfriend or not I don't know. But this is a problem of mine and you're not needed to add to it." With that, she turned and fled for the staircase, tears in her eyes and fear and anger burning in her heart.

"Shelia? Wot happened?" Sniper asked as Terri burst in, tears streaking her face. "Where's the spook?" At the mention of the Spy, she seemed to break down even more. Sniper wrapped her in a tight hug. "Wot did the spook do ta ya? Oi'll go give 'im a good whacking fer whatever he did ta ya," he whispered in her ear as she cried into his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry Lawrence… I'm so sorry," she coughed out, unable to say anything regarding the situation. Sniper didn't know what she was sorry for, so he fell into silence till she was stable enough to pull away. "Snipes, follow me," she sighed, trudging to Medic's room while wiping her face with the back of her hand. Curious and unable to refuse, Sniper followed her silently to the infirmary. "Wot-why're ya going ta see-" "Shut it," she snapped as she knocked on the door.

"Horst? Horst can I come in?" Terri called, her voice choking out. Horst had finally gotten about to his paperwork when he heard Terri. "Come in, Fräulein," he called. Terri shuffled in with Sniper in tow right up to his desk.

"Tell him," she ordered, her tired and tear-filled eyes boring right into Horst. It was intimidating, to say the least. "Tell him vhat?" He had no idea what she was talking about. "Everything. My power, seeing you in Teufort, tell him everything," she hissed.

"Guys, wot's goin' on?" Sniper asked, clearly clueless and stumped. What the hell where they talking about? And seeing him? Was she in love with the _enemy Medic? _Horst sighed. Clearly Terri was going to get her way. He'd already learnt not to mess with an angry girl, especially one who was on the verge of tears.

"Sit down, Herr Sniper. Ve have a lot to talk about."


	6. Overnight train ride

**A/N. Drama llama! If you didn't like that previous angsty chapter, then I think you'll like this one more because I've made sure to not have so much drama and put in a bit more… casual topics.**

**And thanks for the reviews, guys!**

**Horst and Schnaps belong to Derwen**

**TF2 Belongs to VALVe**

**Terri and Axel's personality belong to me**

**Radioactive part 2 – Botkiller**

**Chapter 20**

**9.21pm, Horst's Infirmary, Mannhattan Apartments, Mann Co Industries**

"Whoa whoa, backtrack there. So yer sayin' my cousin's a sorcerer?" Sniper asked, leaning back on his chair. Horst sighed for what was possibly the millionth time. "Not a sorcerer, Herr Sniper. She's just a girl vith supernatural abilities." Sniper snorted. "Still a sorcerer ta me." Terri had fallen asleep at Horst's desk and Horst was a bit scared to move her. He'd already woken her up once and what he had gotten out of it wasn't pretty.

"You're taking zhis particularly vell," Horst commented, taking off his glasses to wipe at them. Sniper shrugged, stroking Schnaps as she came up against his leg. "Well, Oi dunno how else ta react. I mean, she got it so wot can Oi do about it?" He asked, setting his aviators across the brim of his hat. He slumped back in his chair, letting his hand droop lazily at his side with the other resting across his stomach.

Horst stood up. "Vell, I zhink you can go. Just don't go telling zhe others about zhis," he warned. Sniper raised is hands up in defense. "Loike Oi'm gonna go spoutin' this. Ya have my word Doc." He headed for the door, pausing just as he was about to leave. "But uh…" he said, turning back around, "spook's gonna be a whole different story." Right, the Spy. He was sure going to be a problem. Horst hadn't seen him personally over it and frankly speaking, he didn't want to after Pyro had brought a crate in from the storeroom which Spy had locked himself in for a couple hours. The crate was full of knife scratches, cigarette burns and bullet holes, though he had been relieved when he found the old Medigun of his inside safe and in its pristine condition.

"Mm… whassat?" Terri mumbled as she lazily opened one eye, resting her cheek against the tabletop. Horst followed her gaze to the crate he had put in a corner. "Oh, zhat's just mein old Medigun," he said, closing the crate. "Then why's it full of scratches and bullet holes?" Terri asked, beginning to push herself into a sitting position. Horst wasn't sure if he should tell her it was Spy's fault, but then again, she probably didn't care at the moment. "Zhe Spy locked himself in zhe storeroom for a couple hours and took his anger out on zhe crates. I'm not sure if he's damaged anyzhing else," he said just as Terri stood up and stretched.

"Mm, whatever. I'm going to my room," she yawned, pushing open the double doors and heading out. "G'night Doc." With that, she left, much to the pleasure of the invisible rogue standing by the door. He was going to wait till she was asleep before making his move. Oh, he was so going to make that German bastard pay. How dare he use his girlfriend as a test subject! He watched as Terri pushed open her room door and slipped in, waiting to hear the door lock before he decloaked, pausing for a few seconds outside the infirmary.

He was quite confident of his abilities to get revenge, but how should he go about doing it? A quick backstab? No, too merciful. Slashes? A bit risky, but the torture would have been so much more satisfying. Putting on very little emotion, he pushed open the doors, knife in his suit jacket and ready for attack.

"Hello, Herr Spy," Horst greeted as he looked up from the pile of papers on his desk that he was working on. Spy approached him nonchalantly as the Medic asked, "Vhat can I do for you?" Clearly he had nothing against the Frenchman, seeing as he wasn't the one who had gotten into a fight with him. The rogue looked idly round the room. "Oh, nothing. Just wanted to ask you if you've seen ze 'untress," he said simply. Horst paused for a moment, before shrugging and resuming his paperwork. "Nein, I haven't."

_Liar. _"Oh, well, when was the last time you saw her?" Spy asked curiously. He was good at masking emotions and hiding his true intentions, but Horst was better at identifying them, and he knew something was up by then. "Yesterday on the field," he said simply. Spy was already reaching into his suit for the butterfly knife when he was interrupted by a muffled greeting.

"Hrr Mhhdhhk, hrr Sphh," Pyro greeted, standing at the doorway and idly flicking a lighter. Irritably, Spy sighed. He knew clearly he was not getting his revenge today, not at this rate. He was also deeply disturbed by the firebug's presence, taking a step back from the doctor. He thanked the German for the information and turned, leaving the room. He was going to have to put it off for another day. Any time too soon and Horst would suspect something. He would have to make sure the Medic had forgotten about his little visit before trying to strike again. Till then he could only try mend his relationship with the girl.

Administrator hadn't been too pleased with their performance in Mannhattan and had decided to leave it for another time, sending them down to yet another new map, Rottenburg. The mercs had been asked to pack up and get ready to leave for an overnight train.

The mercs weren't too happy about having to leave for a new area after having worked so hard on Mannhattan, but they figured it was probably for best seeing as most, if not all of them, were getting tired of fighting robots that could capture points.

They were going to have to take the subway out to the main train station where their overnight train would be waiting. "C'mooooon let's go already!" Scout whined, eager to get going. He loved overnight trains. Demoman placed his palm on the Scout's face and pushed him back. "Aye, shut up lad. We gots plenty o' time ta git outta here," he slurred. True enough, even if they took the subway now their train was only leaving in the evening, and it was barely past noon.

"Well we could always get something to eat first," Engineer suggested as he shoved his blueprints into his bag. Heavy nodded. "Da, is good idea," he agreed. Scout sulked a bit. "Or… we can go to the train and load our stuff!" He looked proud at the idea, but Engineer just sighed. "Son, it won't take us more than fifteen minutes to put our stuff in the train. Then what?" "Then we can pick rooms," Scout said. He was clearly intent on getting on that train.

"Okay okay, Oi got an idea," Sniper chimed in, "since the mongrels wants so badly ta get on the train, he can put our stuff fer us and we can go eat." At the idea of having to carry goodness knows how many bags, Scout's eyes widened. "No way, piss-fer-brains!" He yelled, crossing his arms over his chest. "Not happenin'." Demo pushed the Bostonian back again. "Exactly why ye can shut up lad."

Scout fell silent after that, muttering to himself about how they didn't know how to appreciate overnight trains. Terri herself was fine with them, although she didn't like the idea of sleeping on a couch as the overnight train RED always took usually didn't have rooms with beds, just a whole bunch of couches and beanbags the teams had brought in to sleep on.

"Just outta curiousity, what's BLU's overnight train like?" Terri asked as she fell into step next to Horst who had picked Schnaps up in his arms. "Vell, it's just a lot of crates vith our veapons, a few beds zhat ve alvays fight over and a couch. Vhy? Vhat's yours like?" Schnaps wriggled in his arms for a bit, meowing loudly. She stared up at Horst with large eyes and he set her down.

"Oh geez, that's gotta suck. Mine's a bit of like, beanbags and couches everywhere among the crates. So like, everyone has somewhere to sleep," Terri said, feeling a bit bad for the good doctor. Hopefully Admin would send down the RED's train to take them to this Rottenbug place, wherever the hell it was.

Suddenly, Schnaps leapt up onto Terri, scrambling and perching on her shoulder. "What the-" Terri gasped as little claws pricked her shoulder. Horst frowned and leaned forward, slipping his hands under the cat and lifting her off Terri's shoulder. "Bad kitty," he scolded, putting the cat back on the floor. The cat let out a shrill meow before burrowing herself into one of Horst's bags.

"Cute," Terri commented as she slung her bag over her shoulder. It didn't contain much, just a few personal things. Everything else, such as weapons, clothes and all were stored in crates and loaded onto the train already.

Later that evening, Scout had finally gotten his wish of being able to get on board the train. He had been jumpy throughout the entire subway ride out into the main station where a huge train had been waiting for them. As soon as the subway doors had opened, Scout had grabbed his things and dashed out, leaving the rest of the team behind.

Admin had sent the RED train down, much to the team's delight. "At least we're not going to have to fight over beds," Terri giggled as she swung aboard onto the train, stepping into the dim carriage. Scout had already burrowed himself in the beanbags by them. "Awh man, we so gotta get ourselves some of these! Hey- hey Engie! Can we get beanbags for our train too?" he begged. "Pleaaaase?" Engineer set his things down, looking around the cabin. "We'll talk to the rest of the team first," he said, not wanting to be the one to have the final say.

"Nice train," Horst commented as Terri plopped herself into one of the beanbags. "This whole thing? Wasn't my idea. I think our Scout came up with the idea first and we kinda just went with it," she shrugged, sinking into the beanbag. She noticed Spy had taken a seat on the couch particularly far from her. Well, she was fine with that, refusing to look at him. There didn't seem to be any tension between the two, none that anyone else could sense, at least. On the surface she certainly wasn't on good terms with him, but deep down she wasn't sure what she was feeling towards him. _It doesn't matter, _she told herself, pushing the thoughts away.

The mercs had settled down in the train, getting comfortable. No one really knew what they were expected to do on an overnight train apart from sleep and be bored, seeing as they weren't allowed to use their weapons onboard the train. They had stayed up, sharing stories about themselves with the rest.

"So this one time my bros and I, we were out playing baseball when I saw this super cute girl walk by, and I was starin' at her, and my bros were all like, 'nawh you ain't impressin' her like that', so I stepped up to plate and did this awesome swing just as she looked over and it was aweeeesome," Scout rambled as he fiddled with his dog tags. "Mm, and lemme guess. The girl went crazy over ya," Sniper sighed. The RED Scout told very predictable stories, and clearly he expected the same from the BLU.

"Nawh, she had a boyfriend already but she liked the bat," Scout sighed, a small smile playing on his lips. "What happened to her?" Terri asked. "Well a few years later she moved into my neighbourhood and my bros were all like 'awh man that girl you saw a few years ago? She's back', and at first I thought they were kiddin', so I went out and they kinda locked me outta the house till I talked to her. Then we started going out a little more and she kinda dumped her boyfriend. We didn't get together and stuff but we were real close for a couple years. Then I dunno what happened but she just kinda got sick and stuff. And after a couple more months she just… died like that," Scout trailed off.

"Geez, that sucks," Terri said, sitting up in her beanbag. Scout nodded. "Yeah, never saw anyone like her, she was just awesome. Like, pancake awesome, y'know?" Terri was sure she knew what losing someone close was like as her gaze travelled back to Spy, who, when their eyes met, disappeared.


	7. Trains and Dogs

**A/N. I won't be around to post updates for the next week, I'm heading on holiday to Australia (maybe I'll find Sniper). So I made this chapter extra long in hopes of entertaining you guys long enough.**

**Horst and Schnaps belong to Derwen**

**TF2 belongs to VALVe**

**Terri and Axel's personality belong to me. **

**Radioactive Part 2 – Botkiller**

**Chapter 21**

**2.48am, RED Train, Snakewater borders**

The RED train rattled along the tracks, pushing through the alpines around the area. They'd already passed DeGroot Keep, Manor and Lakeside on their way to Rottenburg and had just entered the Snakewater region. The train had yet to pass on through Snakewater before entering the colder areas Viaduct and Coldfront before the snow would clear off into Rottenburg.

The Botkiller team, as they called themselves, had stayed up telling stories about themselves and what life was like at home, laughing, arguing, oohing and ahhing, scoffing together as a team, only settling down past midnight once all of them were yawning and getting sleepy-eyed. They hadn't spent a lot of time together in Mannhattan, or at all, but each mercenary had to admit, they were much closer than they had been in their own teams. The silence in the cabin was only broken by the train against the tracks, making a chugging-clanking noise. Everything else, even the animals in the woodland area in Snakewater, were fully silent.

Each mercenary had curled up in one of the many beanbags on the floor, or on one of the old couches up against the walls. Scout was sprawled out, taking up two beanbags with a hand resting across Pyro's foot which stuck out from the couch he dozed on. Initially Soldier had refused to sleep on one of the beanbags, claiming he'd sleep on the floor like a true American soldier, though around one in the morning he had given in and shifted to a beanbag a bit further out from the corner he had previously been in.

Demo had fallen asleep much earlier, taking the trip as an excuse to drink as much as he could, till he passed out on the couch in the middle of telling a story about his Eyelander. Next to him sat Pyro, who, to someone who didn't know the firebug's body language, would have looked awake through his blank eye sockets, though the way his head drooped let all the mercenaries know he was getting his fair share of shuteye.

Down on the floor by Pyro's other leg was Engineer, curled up tightly in a maroon beanbag that was pressed up against the couch Sniper and Terri had bunked on. Sniper leaned against the left armrest, while Terri's head rested against his side and her legs draped over the other armrest on the opposite side. There wasn't much space left in the cabin, so Heavy had taken the liberty of shifting the table in the middle to a corner to make room for his German friend to sleep. With the extra space Horst had been able to tuck himself under his coat and rest his head up on the edge of Engineer's beanbag, though Heavy had later traded places with him, letting Horst have the couch while he slept on the floor. That left Spy, who had refused to sleep in the same room as the rest of the team. Until it got too cold in the luggage room, when he shifted back to the cabin and picked a corner to sleep in, hidden by crates and shadows.

All was completely quiet in the cabin, say for Heavy's snoring which had started up again. It didn't bother the rest from getting sleep, though it had made Demo mumble something and roll over onto his side. Around three forty-something Terri had gotten up, roused by her body needing a drink of water. Leaning over, she groped around for her bag, finding it squished between Engineer's beanbag and the couch she was on. She managed to wriggle the bag out of its place without waking Engineer, lifting it onto her lap and unzipping it, getting a good drink of water from her bottle before setting the bag next to her. It felt good to quench her thirst. As she put the bag down, she could almost make out a figure in the corner. Gingerly she picked her way around her sleeping teammates, nearly stepping on Scout's hand as she went over to the shadows, crouching down to see her… ex-boyfriend?

With a finger she poked Spy gently, garnering an incoherent mumble as a response. "Spy," she whispered, poking him again, this time with more force. He cracked open an eye, the blue pupil shifting to meet hers. "Mm, what do you want?" he asked sleepily. "Can we talk?" Terri asked hopefully. Maybe she could fix their relationship. One half of him said, _Oh, sure we can talk. We can talk about how you've been seeing that BLU German bastard and how you've had a supernatural ability and never told me. Let's talk about that, _while the other half begged, _Yes, please let's talk. We can fix this. It was absolutely ridiculous of me to react like that but we really need to speak to fix things. _Of course the tiny devil had to ruin everything by taking over. "I do not want to talk," he sighed, turning his back to her. "I want to sleep."

Terri leaned back a bit, a bit shocked at the response. Well, that was great, now what did she do? "Please?" She tried again, reaching her hand out to lightly touch him. He flinched at the light touch and she retracted her hand. "_Bon nuit, _petit," he snapped. Terri frowned, standing up. "Okay. Okay I see how it is." She turned from him, making her way back to the couch. "Good night, Alexandre," she whispered as she settled back into her seat. Next to her Sniper stirred, putting an arm round her shoulder. "Somethin' wrong, Shelia?" He asked, shifting himself a bit. Terri rested her head against his side. "No, go back to sleep Snipes," she yawned, closing her eyes and letting sleep take her again.

He blew it. There she was giving him his only chance to say sorry and make up and let everything go back to how it was, and his stupid, fucking ego had gone and ruined it for him. She had even asked a second time and still he had denied the chance. Denied her. Bloody hell, now even if he asked her she probably would reject him. All that led him to think about revenge on Horst again, a plan he'd have to execute another time, maybe in Rottenburg. Now unable to sleep, he pulled the knife out of his pocket, twirling it a couple of times when suddenly the train jerked violently to the side, sending him hurtling across the room and right into the opposite wall.

The entire cabin flew (literally) into panic as the train tumbled, the cabin spinning, crashing into something, spinning again and smashing into something hard. The whole team had scrambled, trying not to get smashed by falling things. Luckily most of the crates had fallen away from them so no one had gotten crushed by a crate full of weapons or ammunition. The cabin had landed in a smoking pile of scrap metal at the base of a cliff, the rest of he train flown off the tracks and tumbling and crashing somewhere further up the Cliffside. The drop hadn't been too far, though there were definitely going to be injuries and destroyed weapons.

Coughing, Horst pulled himself out of the wreck, taking a moment to study the damage done to himself. There were a couple bruises from the fall and a cut on the back of his leg from a shard, but apart from that he was fine. Scrambling, he went to find the rest of his team.

Most of them had gotten themselves out of the wreck and were helping pull crates and weapons out of the smoking mess. The first one had got to was Pyro, limping a bit as he pulled his beloved flamethrower out of it and checked it over for damage. "Vhere is the rest of zhe team?" He asked, eyes wide. His glasses were gone, for one thing. Good thing he only needed them for reading. Pyro stood up, stroking the flamethrower and pointed over to the opposite side. Horst grabbed his arm and yanked him along over to the rest, grabbing Sniper's hat as he found it along the way.

Sniper breathed a sigh of relief as the two of them came into view. "Oh, great. We were about ta start panicking since we couldn't find ya," he sighed, messing up his hair by running a hand through it. Horst returned the hat to him, which he took gratefully and set back on his head. "Is zhat all of us?" Horst asked. Sniper, who had taken charge, nodded. They had managed to scavenge most of the weapons, though Soldier was going ballistic of the lack of his shotgun. "LEMME FIND PRIVATE SHOTGUN! I HAVE TO FIND HIM! LEAVE NO MAN BEHIND!" Soldier screamed. Heavy had to lift him up in a bear hug to prevent the patriot from running back into the crash to find his shotgun, which he had actually found with the barrel smashed, though he didn't have the guts to tell Soldier.

"Shut it, ya rocket-hoppin' simpleton!" Sniper shouted in his face, though Soldier didn't quiet down. Turning back to Horst, he scratched the back of his head. "We managed to get most of the stuff. Hate ta break it ta ya but yer prototype Medigun? Quick-Fix or somethin'? Demo found it with the chamber completely destroyed and the barrel looks beyond repair ta me. We brought it back anyway ta see if ya still wanted ta try fix it or somethin'," he said. Horst shook his head. "Nein, leave it. I don't even use zhat anyvay. It's just going to be a dead veight." Sniper nodded. "Demo!" He called over his shoulder. "Trash the Quick-Fix!" Demo and Scout grinned as their chance and turned, Demo snapping the Medigun in two with a smash of his heel and tossing the two pieces on air for Scout to hit with his bat, making both pieces disappear into the forest. The boy, despite having a nasty scratch over one eye, still had a pretty good aim.

"Any serious injuries?" Horst asked, noticing a cut that ran from Sniper's temple to dangerously close to his eye. "Don't think so, but I ain't the one here who graduated from med school, Doc. Ya might wanna, I dunno, go over them again or somethin'," he said, stepping aside. Horst did a quick run through of the team, ensuring nothing any of them were suffering was life threatening. Out here, outside of Respawn range, if you died you died. Which meant his job had just become a lot more stressful too, also with his limited supply of the Medigun's healing liquid in his Medipack.

Terri was sitting on a rock, tying her hair up again with her bow in her lap. The yellow feather that was usually tied to the end of the bow was missing, torn off or something. "You okay?" Horst asked, kneeling down by her. She looked a bit out-of-it, if anything. "Yeah," she said, wiping blood from a cut across her forehead, near her eyebrow. She stood up, brushing dirt from her clothes. "Just a bit… shocked by the whole thing. Totally unexpected."

Horst sighed. That was exactly how he felt too. He understood that outside Respawn anything could happen, and with the train completely destroyed, their only means of contacting Administrator was gone, and their only option was to start walking and scavenge the rest of the carriages as they went till they got to another fort, though who knew how long that could take.

By then Soldier had gone quiet, accepting that there was no way he was going to be able to go into the crash and find Private Shotgun. The team couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for the patriot as he saluted to the crash, and just to make his friend feel better, Demo had made a cross out of two sticks for Soldier to place by the crash site. "You will be missed, Private. Be a good soldier up there," Soldier sighed. Sniper decided it was wise to get going before Soldier changed his mind about leaving the shotgun. "C'mon, let's get goin'. Better see what we can find in the other cabins," he said.

They trudged along the bottom of the cliff, trying to find a way up the rocky wall. There was no way they were going to be able to scale the wall itself, so they were going to have to look for a slightly less steep slope. Eventually the rocks cleared out into grass, the slope getting gentle enough to walk. "Y'know, I was just thinking maybe we got set up," Scout commented as he pulled himself onwards, muscles starting to ache.

"I don't think anyone would have a reason ta set us up lad. BLU would nae do it because they'd be harming their own team and RED ain't that stoopid, lad," Demo reasoned. "Well," Scout continued, "what if it wasn't anyone from RED or BLU?" "Like what lad, robots? They're too stupid to know how to set a trap." Scout fell silent after that, still trying to come up with possibilities. It couldn't have been a civilian, they weren't permitted anywhere close to the mercs or to anything related to them. Robots were unlikely, they'd have been too noisy to be able to slip by the mercenaries. Grey Mann himself was too much of a coward to have done it.

Up ahead lay another cabin, looking very much the same as the one they had picked themselves out of. Mangled and smoking. "Jeez, this one looks even worse," Scout commented as he looked around it for the entrance. "I wouldn't try go in there, boy," Engineer said as Scout tried to nudge open the door. "Can't, damn door's stuck," Scout hissed, turning away from it. "There's probably nothin' in there."

On the opposite side of the crashed cabin Sniper had found something. "Hey Doc, come 'ere," he said, crouched by a figure. It was a dog, an Australian Kelpie, with it's mainly black coat and a bright, smart face. It crouched on the floor, refusing to move though. Horst was definitely more of a cat person, but the idea of leaving the dog didn't sit with him. "Vell, vhat have ve here?" he asked, reaching a hand out to stroke it. Curiously the dog raised its head to sniff Horst's hand, it's pricked ears brushing gently against his arm. Demo and Terri had joined them by then. "Aw… he's so cute!" Terri cooed, coaxing the dog to stand up. It didn't put any pressure on one leg, and Horst knew that meant something was wrong.

Leaning forward, he shifted the dog closer to him, finding the leg scored with a painful, deep cut. "Vere you on zhe train vith us?" Horst asked as he pulled out his Medigun. He knew how precious the liquid in his Medipack was, but he was sure the dog wouldn't be able to keep up without healing, and the team, especially Scout once he saw the dog, would want it to. The Kelpie sniffed curiously at the healing beams, bouncing excitedly as soon as its leg was fine.

"Can we keep him?" Terri asked, seemingly to Sniper. Already the dog had taken a liking to Engineer who had joined them, bouncing up and down in front of the Texan with excited barks. "Oi dunno, he'd definitely adorable but Oi-" "Guys? Is that a dog I hear?" Scout called, making his way over. "AWH MAH GAWD IT IS A DOG HOLY SHIT!" He cried as soon as he saw the bright-eyed Kelpie, leaping over to the dog and kneeling by it to hug the dog. Scout's yelling had attracted Soldier, Pyro and Heavy over, all cooing over the dog. Clearly they wanted to keep it.

"Oi dunno guys, we got a lot on our hands already…" Sniper said, though he had to admit, he liked the dog too and probably wouldn't be able to leave it behind. "Pleaaaaase let us keep it!" Scout begged, hugging the dog which licked him excitedly on the face. Sniper sighed in defeat. "Foine, we keep 'im," he said, making Scout cry in glee and rough up the Kelpie's coat, receiving a lick in return. "Now come on, we gotta keep going."

With the newest addition to their team, the mercenaries moved on, spirits lifted and enjoying their new company. All the time Scout walked with the dog, trying to think up a name for it as he went. "You're sure enjoying the company," Terri said, dropping back to walk with him. Scout smiled, one hand reaching down to touch the Kelpie's coat. "Yeah, I haven't had a dog since I was a boy. My ma never let us have one because she said eight boys were already difficult enough to handle. But my bros and I, we always go down to the shelter to play with the dogs there," he said.

"I have a dog back home. She's a Golden Retriever, name's Fritz. I miss her," Terri said, thinking about the old, golden retriever back in Australia. "Never seen a Kelpie like him." At the breed name, he perked his ears and barked. "Is that your name?" Terri asked, reaching a hand down to ruffle his coat. "Kelpie?" At the word he got excited again, bouncing before running ahead to sniff at Demo's hand.

"I think out day just got so much better for meeting Kelpie," Scout sighed as they picked up the pace to catch up with the rest of the team.


	8. Off track and right into the blades

**A/N. Hello everyone! I'm back from Australia, sun-burnt and with plenty of souvenirs. So here's the next chapter of Botkiller!**

**Horst and Schnaps belong to Derwen**

**TF2 belongs to VALVe**

**Terri, Axel's personality and Kelpie belong to me.**

**Radioactive Part 2 – Botkiller**

**Chapter 22**

**7.37am, TF2 Offices, Mann Co HQ.**

Ms Pauling waited aside as the printer churned out sheet after sheet of warm paper, black ink stamped on it with the latest information on the mercenaries' last known whereabouts, printed directly straight from her laptop that sat on the desk next to the printer. Silently, she just listened to the printer chugging and buzzing as it read off the computer and translated the text from her laptop over into ink on paper.

She'd been given the task of finding the mercenaries that had been sent to Rottenburg hours ago, after the cameras that had locked in on the train had gone blank, and Admin had not been able to reconnect with them. She was getting irritated that she was unable to keep watch on them, spending her time watching the remaining mercenaries back in Teufort. With her long, slender fingers she pulled the cigarette from her mouth, considering informing the remaining nine mercenaries about their teammate's disappearance.

Once the printer finally settled down and stopped spitting out paper, Ms Pauling collected the warm paper and slid them together in a folder to bring to Admin. She was sure not going to like the results so far, not that she ever liked anything about her job except the ability to boss people around and her pay, not that she actually went and used the money on anything except more cigarettes.

Gingerly, Ms Pauling stepped up to the doors that kept Admin away from the rest of the world, confined her in her own privacy of stalking the mercenaries' every move, handling each game, and smoking her heart out. Quietly, she knocked on the door for the fourth time that morning, allowing herself entry to the room. Administrator didn't even turn to look at her, just staring at the few blank screens as she tried to reconnect the cameras again.

"I take it you haven't found them?" Admin asked, her voice cold and irritated. Ms Pauling clutched the folder a bit closer to her chest, eyes drifting to a panel by the side of the room uneasily. "Um… well, I did manage to get a bit more information on what may have happened to them-" "_Did. You. Find. Them?" _Administrator repeated, this time a lot harsher. Ms Pauling flinched a little, lowering her head a bit. "Not quite, Administrator," she whispered, uncertain about how Administrator would reply. Sometimes she took things incredibly well. Others… not so much.

The chair Admin sat on spun around, revealing Admin sitting with one leg folded neatly over the other, cigarette between her lips with smoke curling out of it like a wild snake, her fingertips lightly touching each other. Her catlike eyes narrowed as they met Ms Pauling's, and she stuck out one hand, a silent gesture for the folder in Ms Pauling's arms. Reaching out, she handed over the folders. Administrator took a quick glance through them, eyes rapidly flying over words. _Last seen. Snakewater. RED Train. Unknown current location. 2.57am. No contact. _She frowned. These were the same words she had seen in the previous report, and the previous-previous report. Nothing was coming of it. With a snort, she placed the folder on the desk next to her, with the pile of other folders and reports that had amassed over the past couple of hours. "Go back and try get more information. Confirm if they're dead or alive so I can hire new mercenaries if needed," she snapped, swinging back around in her chair back to the many screens mounted on the wall. Ms Pauling stood there for a moment, before retreating back out of the dark room and leaving Admin to her tools.

"We've been walking for hours!" Scout whined, dragging his feet along the dirt and grass that lined the forest floor. Sniper glared back at him. He was exhausted too, after walking for a good four hours since their train to Rottenburg, wherever that was, had flipped, tumbled down a Cliffside and crashed, leaving the Botkillers, as they called themselves now, stranded, disoriented and completely lost. Even their new dog companion, Kelpie, was visibly tired.

Pale sunlight was just starting to filter in through the shadows the tall trees hanging overhead cast, reaching the forest floor and lighting it up. "Sun's goin' up, maybe we'll be able to see something better when it gits light," Engineer said, trying to keep the team going. Each and every one of them were all pushed to their limits, stumbling around in the dark for hours on end, unsure of where they were and where they were going. Scout tipped his head back to stare at the lightening sky, refusing to go on. "Can't we just rest till it's fully light? I'm exhausted," he sighed, slumping against a tree.

Sniper looked back at him, considering pushing him on, though he gave in when he saw how beat up the boy looked. Despite being a runner, he clearly wasn't made to be trekking through rough terrain for hours on end like Sniper was used to. He sighed, sitting down on a rock. "Lad's right, we should take a break till it's fully light," he said. Instantly the whole team was on the ground, resting their aching legs and getting some shuteye.

Terri flopped onto the ground by a pile of half-dead leaves, resting on her side. She was at her very limit, and she was certain she'd pass out if she tried to push herself any further. Next to her, Axel sat, hunched over, knees pressed up against his chest. "Hmm exhhhsthhhd," he sighed, burying his head into his arms. Terri didn't open her eyes to look at her friend. "I know, Firecracker. I'm exhausted too. This really sucks," she breathed. Pyro grunted something that sounded like an agreement, when Horst came to join them.

"I have never felt so drained in my entire life," He sighed as he sat down with the two of them, getting a grunt of greeting from Pyro and a glance from Terri. "Hhh knhhh hhh yhh fhhhl, Mhhdhhk," he mumbled, letting himself go limp and get some rest before they had to get going again. "This whole powers thing," Terri said, rolling over to face Horst, "is not working out for me. I'm getting drained so much faster," she complained. Horst fully understood her. "I know how you feel. I had zhe same issue but you vill get used to it soon," he said, leaning back against a tree trunk, coat flicked to one side. "Well I'd appreciate 'soon' coming faster," Terri sighed, stretching out on the grass.

A couple feet away Spy watched Terri, sprawled out on the grass next to Horst. He narrowed his eyes, shooting invisible daggers at the Medic. He still had yet to get his revenge, but with the team in the worst possible condition they could have been in, in a true fight for survival, he knew the importance of having someone who knew how to operate a Medigun around. He was just going to have to wait for his chance once they got to another fort, even though his fingers itched to reached for his knife and ram it into he back of the German over and over again.

The team spent some time just sitting, resting, massaging their aching legs, when Sniper, who had gone further out to do some scouting, returned. "Oi guys, Oi think we found our way out!" he called, instantly catching the attention of everyone. "Wot did ye find?" Demo asked, clearly not willing to get up from his spot under a tree. "Well fer starters, Oi found a fence. 'S more trees beyond it but it thins out a little so it's probably one of our forts or some lad's house which we can check out," Sniper said. Engineer stood up from his place, stretching a bit. "Ah reckon we should git goin'. Faster we git goin' faster we reach. And Ah'll be damned if it's one of our forts," he said, urging the rest of the team to get up. Kelpie leapt up with a happy help, tugging at Scout's show for him to get up.

"What we leavin' so fast?" Scout complained as Kelpie pulled more insistently at his shoe. "Where we goin'?" Demo slapped him on the back of the head. "Were yoo even listenin' lad?" he asked. Scout sheepishly grinned and shrugged. "Not really…" "Then shut up and just follow." As soon as the whole team was ready. Sniper led them back out the way he'd come from, bringing them up to a wire fence, one very similar to the ones always seen at the border of each fort they had been in before.

"Hm. Looks like ya struck gold, Slim," Engineer said, looking up at the fence. Instantly Scout bolted towards it, starting to scale the fence. "Boy, what in Sam Hill do you think you're doin'?" The Texan asked as Scout clambered up the fence, dragging himself up further with each pull. "Just tryin' to get somewhere, Whaddya think?" Scout retorted, swinging himself over the top of the fence and leaping down. The sharp edge of the fence caught on his palm as he swung over, tearing a line right down his palm as he went. Instantly he hissed, holding his hand in pain as blood welled up. "Fucking hell," he snarled, pressing his hand against his shirt to stop the blood. Horst rolled his eyes. "Ve can get zhat fixed vonce ve get to zhe fort," he said, starting to scale the fence himself. The rest of the team found their own way of getting in, Pyro going for the wild option of climbing a tree and launching himself from a branch, over the fence and tumbling into the area, though Horst could have sword he'd have broken his neck if he wasn't careful even though the arsonist got up, dusted himself off and gave a thumbs up.

As soon as he got over the fence, Horst headed over to Scout, flipping his palm over to inspect the damage. Blood was still welling up on the cut, a jagged, painful line ripped through the bandages round his hand, staining the white red. "Don't touch anyzhing vith zhat hand," Horst simply said, letting Scout press his bleeding hand against his shirt to keep the blood from flowing. Sniper had once again gone first, scouting ahead to find their bearings. "Got it, lads. This is the leftmost border of Sawmill. Kinda means we're a bit off track since we're not supposed to pass by here last Oi remember, but whatever."

Sure enough, after a few more minutes of walking the vegetation cleared out into the rusty wooden structures of Sawmill, the main capture point clearly visible. "Not my first choice of a fort, but I'm just glad we're somewhere," Terri commented as Sniper led them over to the closest team fort, which was the BLU's. "Oi'll leave you guys in charge here," Sniper said, backing off to let Engineer unlock the main gate to their Respawn. Once the gates opened, Scout collapsed on the bench of Respawn. "Finally! Somewhere I know!" He cried, hugging the bench and completely forgetting what Horst had told him.

Now that they were somewhere, they'd be back on camera. They could contact Admin. She wouldn't be happy about the wreck and the loss of a couple weapons, but at that point no one really cared. They were just glad to be somewhere they were familiar with.

"Administator? I just got some reports, looks like the mercs are at Sawmill currently," Ms Pauling said as she hovered by the doorway to Admin's office. "Sawmill?" Admin repeated, flicking some of the blank screens to the distant, rusty arena out in the rural areas. The cameras came on, a few revealing nothing, and one screen revealing the BLU Respawn with all nine mercenaries. "Good. At least they know how to survive with Respawn for a couple hours. Inform them that we'll be sending a new train over in a few days and that they are to stay in Sawmill till we contact them again," she instructed, sending Ms Pauling out again to the announcement system.

"Hello, mercs," she said, catching the attention of all the mercenaries in Sawmill. "We're glad you made it to Sawmill, and we understand about the wreck. We-" "YOU MEAN TO TELL ME YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS THE WHOLE DAMN TIME AND NEVER SAID A THING?! DAMMIT MYSTERIOUS VOICE-" Soldier began, when Heavy picked him up and put him in another room. "Next I hit your tiny head against wall," he warned Soldier.

"We'll be sending another train over in a couple days. We will contact you again when your train has arrived. Till then, you are to stay in Sawmill," Ms Pauling said over the microphone. Scout sighed as he bandaged up his hands again, discarding the old, dirty, bloodstained bandages. "So we're stuck here again?" he moaned, getting Demo's palm in his face as a reply. "Aye, shut it lad. Just be glad we still ain't stuck out there."

While the team settled down in the fort, choosing to stay around Respawn where they were actually free from the burden of death, Terri felt a little pull. Something urging her to got further into Sawmill. She knew it was not natural. She turned, walking in the opposite direction, feeling the pull get stronger. _God dammit, what? _Pulling Axel aside as he passed, she hissed, "Axe, where's Horst?" He paused for a moment, thinking about where he last saw the good doctor, before gesturing back to the main Respawn just as he walked out.

"Horst, c'mere," she hissed, grabbing his attention. "Vhat?" Horst asked as he approached her. "I think my power's acting up again. I just… gotta go into Sawmill," she said, unable to explain the need properly. It was like when she had taken out the pipe from her pocket. "Meaning?" "I dunno, I just… _need _to go there."

Horst paused for a moment, then sighed. "Alright. I'll tell Sniper ve are going to look around zhen ve go, okay?" Terri honestly wanted to bolt off, with the need growing stronger and stronger. _Another charm, maybe? _"Fine, just hurry up," she sighed, letting her gaze wander back into the distance where the pull was trying to drag her.


	9. Glass Shards

**A/N. I'm getting more support around the net and I really appreciate it guys! **

**Horst and Schnaps belong to Derwen**

**TF2 belongs to VALVe**

**Terri, Axel's personality and Kelpie belong to me.**

**Radioactive Part 2 – Botkiller**

**Chapter 23**

**9.48am, Sawmill.**

Terri had no idea where she was walking, just following wherever the pull was dragging her. She had looped round the same area couple of times, and still the pull would not settle down on one area. Like it was moving as well, with every step she took.

"God dammit," Terri hissed as the pull changed again, redirecting her back to the sawmill itself. "This is just sick," she snapped, getting irritated, turning to head back to the sawmill. Axel and Horst had followed in silence, not questioning the girl's actions. Once they got back to the sawmill for the fourth time, Terri grinned. "Got ya," she hissed, heading under the set of stairs on the left side of the sawmill.

She began shifting away the sacks and tires stored under the stairs, pushing them aside to make room for whatever it is she was trying to retrieve. Axel nudged aside a bale of dusty hay with his foot, when something creaked from where Terri was.

"Vell, vhat did you find?" Horst asked, trying to see what Terri had been so frantically chasing about for the past hour. Dusting herself off, the Huntress got up. "Wasn't what I expected, but it's… something," she said, stepping aside to reveal an open trapdoor. She had the kind of lopsided grin that told Horst she wanted to go down and explore. "Vhat- ve are not going down zhere. You don't even know vhat's hiding," he warned, not keen on the idea of going down some dark trapdoor that led to goodness knows where.

Axel had taken an interest in the trapdoor, peering down it and trying to see what was down in the shadows. Curiously, he formed a small ball of flames in his palm and flung it down the trapdoor, illuminating the sides of the tunnel that went down till the flames disappeared into the darkness. "Hmm, hhtt's phhrrthh dhhpp," he noted.

"Nein, I am not going down zhere," Horst said firmly, though that had gotten an unexpected response from Terri. She shrugged, heading towards the trapdoor. "Fine by me. You can stay up here. I'm going down," she said, starting to climb down the tunnel. "You coming, Axe?" she called. The arsonist glanced from Terri, who was slowly making her way down with barely any light, to Horst, who clearly was not going. Shrugging, he waved to Horst and headed down after Terri, a small ball of fire illuminating the tunnels as he followed Terri.

"Vhat- you have got to be kidding me," Horst sighed. With both of them going, he was left with no choice but to follow. Actually, he could have just gone back but being the man he was, he couldn't just leave Axel and and Terri to whatever was down there. Sighing in defeat, he started to crawl down the tunnel after them.

"Zhis is ridiculous," he snorted once he made it to the bottom where Terri and Axel were looking around with Axel's little ball of fire being the only light source. Terri looked particularly excited and amazed to be down there in the darkness, her eyes bright and shining. "You kidding me? This is awesome. Who knows what we can find here," she said, letting Axel lead the way with his tiny light source.

"Exactly my point, Fräulein," Horst muttered as he followed the two of them. The trapdoor tunnel had opened up into some sort of underground shed of sorts, shelves and cupboards lining the walls and boxes all over the floor. It went on for quite a bit, though the wooden supports of the underground storeroom eventually melted away into solid stone where the cave could hold itself up. Dust lined possibly everything, the results of no one having been down there for ages. Axel was the only one who didn't seem bothered by all the dust, having his gas mask to protect his face.

Most of the boxes and crates seemed like they belonged to Mann Co, most of them opened and loosely covered against with their lids. A couple of small boxes sat on the shelves, open and collecting dust bunnies. Old tire stacks sat in corners along with bales of hay, now reduced to squashed piles of straw under crates, and something that seemed like a broken Control Point rested against the wall.

"Wow," Terri muttered as she ventured around the cave, "this is… really old now. This some kind of storeroom for Sawmill or something? You think other maps have one of these too?" With a hand she dusted off a crate and peered inside, finding nothing but cobwebs and more dust. The front of the crate had no stamp to indicate what used to be inside in and it seemed no other crate in the dim room had any indication either.

Axel had already made a torch with a plank of wood broken off from a half-smashed crate, the burning wood illuminating the room more than his small ball of fire energy had. The warm light revealed cobwebs on the roof cave and a small trail of ants walking along the walls. For a moment Axel paused, staring at the ant trail, before giving in and bringing the torch close to them, giggling a bit as he watched the ants scatter from the intense heat of his torch.

Horst was still clearly not entirely comfortable with being down in some abandoned, creepy underground shack, but he was already starting to explore, searching through boxes and shelves for anything of interest when he chanced upon a robot Heavy head in a crate. Raising an eyebrow, he bent down to pick up the head. It was rusty and dented and had lost its shine, but it was still recognizably a robot Heavy head, one used by Gray Mann. He was just about to put it back and dismiss it as a souvenir one of the mercs had gotten before when suddenly the robot head sparked in his hand, its eyes lighting up.

With a yelp, Horst dropped the head. It made a loud clank as it hit the floor, attracting Axel's and Terri's attention. "Whht's thht?" The arsonist asked, putting down a slowly-crumbling box he had been looking in. Horst was entirely speechless as he stared at the metal head, staring blankly to the far end of the cave with its lit eyes. _I'm fairly certain that's not mean to happen, _Horst thought as Axel bent down and picked up the head. "Ihht's jhhhst ahh hhdh…" he mumbled, unsure of what Horst had gotten so startled over. "Zhat head. Vas not lit up till I picked it up," he said.

"Hey uh, guys? You might wanna check this out," Terri called from the other end of the storeroom. In front of her she had a crate with nothing but a couple of dusty, tearing-up books inside it. In her hands she had a vintage looking book, its cover torn and tattered and its contents missing a page or two. "Seems like other people before us have had their own experiences with magic," she said, quickly flipping through the book. Every couple of pages there would be some handwritten scrawlings next to a paragraph or so, indicating someone had owned the books before and was also interested in the subject of supernatural powers.

The book hadn't said anything about the kind of powers they had, although some came pretty close and had seemed pretty reliable. The last page, though, had words written across in bold, capital letters. It looked urgent, like a cry for help. _CYRANOK'S TOUCH, _it read.

"Cyranok's Touch? What the hell is that supposed to mea- Whoa!" She ducked as the robot head in Axel's hand suddenly shot off his palm and over to the wall, bouncing off the rocky wall with a clang and travelling back at Axel at incredibly high speeds. Axel barely had time to react, and cried out as the head hit him, sending him sprawling across the floor. The head rolled to a stop, the eyes dimming down again as Axel sat up, one lens of his gas mask broken. "Shit, you okay?" Terri asked, crouching by her friend. "Yeah, I'm okay." His voice was slightly clearer now with the broken lens, a pathway for sound to escape without getting all jumbled up. Terri could tell it was edged with pain. "Just uh, lens might have cut my face or somethin'," he mumbled as he reached up to pull the mask off.

With a gloved hand he brushed the tiny glass shards off his face. A couple of tiny shards had left red scratches across his lower eyelid. The glass pieces made small pings as they dropped to the floor. Sighing, Axel pressed a hand to his face to check for blood, accidentally embedding a small bit of glass into his lower eyelid. "What the fff… this hurts," he snarled, jerking his hand away. Horst tilted his chin up, taking a look at the arsonist's rarely-seen face. "Ve'll get zhat shard out vhen ve get back to Sawmill," he said, deciding he couldn't possibly get the glass out without hurting Axel more.

"So we getting outta here?" Terri asked, gathering the dusty box of books she had found, doing her best to seal the box. The others were bound to ask where they'd been and why Axel's mask was broken if they saw them, so they could have to entire a different way and stay away from the rest of the team, though it wasn't predictable where they'd be. Axel pulled on the mask again, although he didn't bother tucking it in since he'd just have to take it off again later to let Horst get the glass out of his pale face. Hauling the box after her, Terri let Axel and Horst climb out of the underground storeroom before she dragged the box after her.

Climbing a ladder with a large box was not the most pleasant thing she had done, nearly loosing her footing halfway up the ladder and only catching on the last second. As soon as she could, she hauled the box out of the trapdoor and climbed up, feeling a lot more at ease without a huge weight dragging her down.

"You guys go first," she called to the two men walking ahead, "I'll find you guys back at the fort." Pulling the box along, she watched as the two guys disappeared round the corner back to the BLU Fort on the west end of Sawmill.

It would have been easier to choose an entrance to go in through if they had the tiniest idea where the mercs might be. But as of now, none of them were in sight from the outside and were probably all wandering around or sleeping in Respawn. If it were the latter, it'd be easy to slip by unnoticed. For a moment Axel stared at Horst, his orange pupil striking even against the darkness behind his mask. They came to a silent mutual agreement that they'd just enter and hopefully not be seen by any of the others.

The first couple of hallways were easy, with no one around to ask where they'd been or anything, although getting to the infirmary meant having to pass the Respawn room which the two had determined as the team's camping spot for now. Axel kept further away from the door, keeping his broken lens in the shadows as he whistled the same cheery tune he always did, hoping it was enough to keep the team from suspecting anything. He let Horst go first, figuring it'd be a bad idea for the team to see them together. Both of them were pretty solitary people, so being seen together was possibly one of the worst ideas ever.

As he waited out of sight from the Respawn room for Horst to go first, he counted to thirty, before deciding it was a safe enough time for him to go, whistling as he went and keeping the shattered lends of his mask hidden. The team had looked up at the sound of the whistle, though none of them had said anything, too tired to be bothered by their whistling, probably demented Pyro strolling around. It was normal to them, being the curious being he had always turned out to be to them.

The infirmary, despite being plenty smaller than the one in Teufort, still had all the necessary things, including the table, the Medigun mounted from the ceiling, and Schnaps, of course. She greeted Horst with an excited tail swish and a loud demand for food as he entered, stalking up to him and pressing herself up against his leg as she stared up at him with large, round eyes.

"Vhat- oh, right, I haven't fed you," Horst sighed, figuring he had time to feed Schnaps before Axel got to the infirmary. Quickly, he folded a paper box, since he had left Schnaps's food bowl with the BLU Sniper in Teufort, using it as a makeshift bowl for Schnaps. Kelpie, who had taken residence with Schnaps in the infirmary since Schnaps hadn't shown hostility when she had wandered in, looked mildly interested at the smell of food, though once she saw Schnaps digging in, lowered her head back to the floor and ignored it. Cat food was meant for cats, and Kelpie clearly knew that.

Horst sat down for a moment, wiping off the dust that had collected on the lens of his glasses while he had been down in the secret storeroom when Axel came in, closing the door and locking it behind him before pulling off his mask again. "Lie down," Horst instructed, gesturing to the table. Axel dragged himself up to the table, sitting down and swinging his legs over when someone knocked on the infirmary door.

"Who is it?" Horst called, hoping it wasn't someone he didn't exactly need seeing Axel's face. A female voice with a slight Australian accent responded him. "Uh, it's me, Terri." Horst left Axel for a moment to unlock the door and let the Huntress in, before closing it and locking it again to prevent unwanted guests from coming in. "Sorry," Terri grinned, finally setting the box down and plopping herself down in a chair, "that box is a lot heavier than it looks."

Horst didn't respond, though he offered a soft smile as Terri began flipping through the books again. Carfully, he began picking out little glass shards from Axel's pale skin with a pair of tweezers, making him flinch every so often. "I hope you have a replacement mask, Axe," Terri said from her chair, "yours is waaaay broken." She was examining Axel's now-defective gas mask. "Yeah," Axel mumbled, trying not to hiss as another piece of glass was pulled from his face, "I got lots of spares- ow!" He sat up as Horst stepped back, tossing the last piece of glass into a cup with the rest. "Go wash your face, zhen ve can have a bit of time to look through zhose books zhe Fräulein has," he said, sending Axel to the little basin in the corner of the room.

As the arsonist splashed his face with water, Horst dragged up a chair next to Terri, taking a book from the box for himself. "So vhat are ve looking at, some creepy robot heads zhat fly at incredibly high speeds upon saying a vord?" He asked, meaning for it to be sarcastic, though Terri nodded. "Pretty much, doc. It's not something I understand either, but it's happening. Actually, come to think about it now, we should have brought that head back."

"Vhat, and have it destroy more zhings here and risk zhe others asking questions? I'll pass on zhat," Horst snorted, flipping open the book in his hands as Axel joined them. _It is unlikely for a person to gain supernatural powers through bloodlines. More often than not supernatural powers are gained by having it given to a person from someone else. Some examples of existing supernatural powers are…_

The list went down quite some way, when it abruptly stopped, the bottom of the page having been torn off, though whatever the next power was started with 'Gift of the" followed by a 'V'. That caught Horst's attention. _Gift of the Vril? Impossible. Zhat's somezhing only I've got. _He tried flipping a couple more pages to see if anything was mentioned about his ability, only coming up with nothing. Closing the book, he sat back, deep in thought. "Ve have to go back to zhat trap door."


	10. Bitter vengeance and a spark of fire

**A/N. I'm really sorry this chapter took longer than I wish it had taken. Saying I was busy with Christmas would be a lousy excuse because here in Singapore I don't celebrate Christmas so let's just go with the truth and say I was lazy. Also, if you want a full profile of each Botkiller, go check out my DeviantArt, all their profiles are there. .com**

Horst and Schnaps belong to Derwen  
TF2 belongs to VALVe  
Terri, Axel's personality and Kelpie belong to me.

* * *

**Radioactive Part 2 – Botkiller  
Chapter 24  
3.41pm, Sawmill.**

"Has anyone noticed we're like, short some members?" Scout noted idly as he chugged down a glass of water. Being a lot smarter than the RED Scout, he knew to fill up on water whenever he craved Bonk! or Crit-a-cola. It was a lot more sensible and healthy, as far as he knew. But downsides were he had to drink a lot of water to prevent himself from tearing open one of the cans of energy drinks.

"Whaddya mean, son? All of us are here," Engineer said, sounding slightly confused. The whole team had come to Sawmill, right? Sniper had made sure of that. "No, I mean like, we're missing members. Here. Right now. In this very room," Scout said, pointing to the floor of the Respawn room they were in.

"Oh, yeah Pyro and Huntress and Medic are somewhere," Demo sighed, spinning the barrel of his grenade launcher idly. "Yeah, anyone noticed they been together a lot? Like, a lot a lot?" As the team began spouting possible ideas on why the three of them had been so close for the past couple of days, shooting down other ideas, Spy stood aside, in the darkness of the dusty room, listening in to their conversation. Most of the possibilities sounded stupid, but a couple just seemed the slightest bit possible.

The Frenchman had been about to leave the room when Terri came in, bow slung over her shoulder. He didn't buy her excuse of going round to explore the place, but seeing her reminded him of the revenge he had yet to get. Subconsciously, he flicked out the blade in his cufflink, eyes drifting to the shining metal and back to Terri.

He could have easily just gone out and over to the infirmary where the German probably was, but not seeing the firebug made it risky. He could be in the infirmary, ready to protect the doctor from his jealous, angry teammate. Or he'd just stand aside and watch as he beat the crap out of Horst, but the unpredictable movements of the Pyro kept him in the dark corner.

It was so simple. Walk out, over to the infirmary, fool Medic into turning his back to him and stab him. Four steps. Less than five minutes, he was sure. Admin would know, but she'd just hire a new Medic. Admin never interfered with personal problems among the mercenaries unless it posed a problem to their gameplay. And all because of that stupid Pyro things were ten times more difficult. He bit back a growl as his hatred spread from just being directed at Horst to also targeting Pyro.

Keeping silent, he watched with narrowed eyes as Terri sat down next to Sniper, tactfully managing to keep all answers as to where she'd been vague but enough to satisfy the others with her answers. He flicked the retractable knife in his cufflink in and out, in and out irritably. His day had been bad enough, but a little bit of light shone when the humming Pyro came in, flamethrower and all. The seemingly blur Pyro ignored Spy, or so he thought. While the blank eye sockets of the gas mask were directed away from Spy, his orange eyes flicked upwards, studying the deceptive man. Something wasn't quite right, he could tell.

People thought he was a fool. A blank, emotionless, mumbling abomination, a monster that killed in one of the worst possible ways with no qualms. Everyone who knew him well enough failed to see the intelligence that flickered in his orange eyes, the rusty gears that turned in his mind, the sensitivity to the world around him that was very faintly reflected in his moves. No one ever saw the flinch he made when he fired his flare gun through the body of an enemy. No one knew he sometimes went to bed with nightmares. No one knew he had a name, a life. They didn't even know if he was human or not.

No one but Terri and Horst. Okay, maybe they didn't know he flinched and had nightmares, but they were the only people in the world that didn't look at him and think demon. They were the only flickers of flame in the darkness that was reality.

He pulled his eyes away from the odd assassin, swiveling his head away._ Think you're good at hiding emotions, Spy? I'm even better._ While the Spy stayed motionless except for the occasional lift of his hand to pull his cigarette from his lips and let out of a puff of smoke, Axel ignored him. He was maybe just being over sensitive after the train crash had left him on his toes, all systems go. Pushing the thoughts to the back of his mind, he let himself submerge in the nonstop chatter of Scout an some wild adventure he had with a girl from a night club.

Spy was clever. He had waited till Pyro had settled down, resting his head on his palm as he listened to Scout blabber on and on, seemingly without ever needing to pause to take a breath. He went on and on, words endlessly tumbling from his mouth. As soon as he was certain no one was minding him, he slipped out, keeping on the façade of just going out for another smoke just in case anyone watched.

As soon as he was out and away from Respawn, he pulled the cigarette from his lips, letting out a stream of smoke and flicking the knife from his cufflink. The blade shimmered in the darkness, reflecting himself. In the thin reflection of himself, he saw a vengeful, hateful man. Not the person he usually was, but he was sure he'd go back to his normal self once this was all over and he'd rid of that awful German from his life.

He took a final drag of the cigarette before dropping it to the floor and stuffing it out with his foot, reducing it to ashes and crushed paper. He smiled at it. That was what Horst was to become. From a nice, burning ember to nothing but ashes. That's how fast it was supposed to happen. That was how fast he would get it over with. Then he'd get rid of the body and pretend nothing had ever happened. Already he'd prepared what he'd tell the team. That he probably left for some personal matters, although if he wanted that to work he'd have to get rid of all the doctor's stuff and his cat too.

Alexandre couldn't help but feel a little pang of guilt at the thought of throwing Schnaps out. He'd have no issues tossing a dog out, but he liked cats. So maybe he could hide Schnaps somewhere and say she'd left with Horst too. He shook his head. He'd just have to deal with Schnaps later after he was done with Horst first. Right now he needed a clear mind and all his reflexes ready in case things didn't turn out as easily as he had planned.

Horst was sitting back on a chair, watching Kelpie try to sniff Schnaps's tail as the cat swished it left and right, brushing it across the Australian Kelpie's face when Spy entered. "Hello Herr Spy, vhat can I do for you?" Horst asked casually, his eyes showing no hostility or defense as they met Spy's. I would like you to get up, turn your back to me and let me stab you, Spy thought, though the words that came from his mouth said entirely otherwise. "I was wondering if you 'ad anything to help me sleep. I'm awfully tired after the whole train incident but I haven't been able to sleep for hours."

Horst chuckled to himself. "I know how you feel," he said, getting up from his chair. "Vell, I could give you sleeping pills of I have any although I zhink it might be a bit strong…" he trailed off, searching through the cupboards with his back turned to Spy. A malicious grin formed on Spy's lips as his knife flicked out, and he approached the Medic from behind. One step, two steps, three steps, raise the knife…

Horst sensed something was not right. Instinctively he spun around, his hand slamming Spy's own away from him. His eyes widened as he saw the knife coming from Spy's sleeve drawn, and barely had time to react as Spy leapt for him. Forget secrecy, now it was all or nothing now that Horst had caught him. The knife barely missed his face as the German doctor ducked, lashing out and pushing Spy back.

With an animalistic growl, Spy regained his balance and launched himself across the room, narrowly missing his target. Horst scrambled across the dimly lit room, looking for something other than his hands to defend himself with. Schnaps had scrambled under the table as Kelpie barked incessantly, though the dog was unsure if she should attack Spy since he had never hit her. Spy leapt across the table in the middle of the room, his agility allowing him to cross the room quickly as Horst grabbed his syringe gun off the desk. He wasn't entirely sure what was loaded in those syringes, though at that point in time it didn't really matter so long he could get Spy to back off.

The thoroughly pissed off Frenchman had gotten close enough to strike, vengeance fueling himself on. He relished in the hiss of pain as his knife managed to score across Horst's arm, blood beginning to stain the doctor's sleeve. Out of self defense, he kicked Spy's stomach, forcing the Frenchman to the floor. He assassin looked ready to kill as he got to his feet again.

"You guys hear anything?" Dell asked. In the distance there was clanging, stomping and something that sounded like growling. At Engineer's remark, Axel looked up. He stayed still for a moment, listening to the noises coming from further in the base. He couldn't piece together what exactly was going on just from listening, but he knew clearly trouble was beginning to stir up.

"Ahh'll ghh lhhk," he offered, getting up from his place. He took his Degreaser with him, in case anything needed to be scared off. It could have been an animal, seeing as the forests around Sawmill were home to plenty of wild animals and they occasionally got into the forts. The unsettling thoughts of all the possibilities made the firebug quicken his pace.

He turned round the corner just in time to catch Spy in hand-to-hand combat with Horst, both looking worn out with a couple of droplets of blood on the floor. "Mhhdhhk!" Pyro cried, dropping the flamethrower and leaping in between both of them, letting instinct take over. He kicked once, twice, pushing Spy up against the wall. Suddenly, the Spy collapsed under his grip, making Pyro release him with a cry of surprise. The limp body crumpled to the floor, and Axel stepped back in shock. He only relaxed after he heard the Dead Ringer decloak noise further outside.

"Danke," Horst coughed out, getting to his feet. Axel turned around, seeing the blood that seeped from his sleeve. He looked around for something to help, bringing over the Medigun and setting it down in front of Horst. With a thankful sigh the Medic activated the gun on himself, taking in a breath of it's healing fumes. "Whht hhhphhnndh?" Pyro asked, picking up his Degreaser again and checking it for dents when he had flung it aside. "I don't know, Herr Pyro," Horst said, staring out of the door.

Spy had activated the Dead Ringer and fled while he still could. With that darn Pyro and his flamethrower in the same room, he didn't want to hang around any longer. He hadn't reached his goal just yet, but it had been a close attempt. At least, close enough to temporarily satisfy himself although he knew eventually he'd be craving for the kill again.

But for now, he had to melt into the shadows and keep low.


	11. Blueprints

**A/N. Really sorry this chapter took so long! I got carried away with playing with my new GMod and with school already started, updates are going to get slow from here. Also I lost my muse to write so chapters by take a long time to show and they'll be short, I have to warn. School is seriously taking the life out of me.**

**Also there will be tweaks to Axel's personality, after watching Sherlock (I finished every single aired episode in 4 days. Waiting for His Last Vow) I decided to make him a bit more aggressive, insensitive to people and thoughtful about things. So you will see that change in Axel from here on.**

**Horst and Schnaps belong to Derwen**

**TF2 belongs to VALVe**

**Terri, Axel's personality and Kelpie belong to me**

**Radioactive Part 2 – Botkiller**

**Chapter 25**

**5.29pm, Sawmill.**

Spy had snuck away to some discreet area in Sawmill where he could sit and hide and just be unseen by his stupid teammates. Bloody Pyro had to come along and screw everything up. He reached out for a health kit to patch himself up, mumbling curses in French at the arsonist for screwing things up for him. These past few days hadn't been going well for him, starting with his breakup, then the train crash, and now this.

After the issue with Spy, Axel had stayed with Horst in the infirmary, silently sitting aside and watching as Horst tried to take his mind off the attack and that underground storage. There was just so much to find down there, and possibly something that could actually help them find out more about their unique powers, like one of the books Terri had found.

Axel was fiddling with his flamethrower when suddenly Horst slammed the pen down on the table and stood up. "Whht's whrrrng?" Axel asked, his attention diverted from the flamethrower by Horst's sudden action. "Zhat's it, ve are going back down to zhat basement." Why he wanted to he was unsure, just something was attracting him to go and he sure as hell wanted to find out. There was something magical about that place, although how magical a dusty basement could get he wasn't sure either. Kelpie stood up with interest as Horst and Axel grabbed their things, ready to go exploring again.

"Whht ahhbbhtt Thhrri?" The mumbling firebug asked as he gathered his flamethrower. Horst shrugged. "If she vants to go zhen she can. If not she's velcome to stay," he said, as Kelpie whined and tugged on his coat. "Does doggy vant to go too?" He asked, stroked Kelpie. The Australian Kelpie let her tongue loll out as she panted her approval, before rearing up on twos and pawing at Horst. Schnaps watched, unamused, as Kelpie demanded attention from the German. It was clear Kelpie had set her intentions on going with them, whether they approved of it or not, and so, Kelpie left the room with them.

They passed the Respawn room where Terri was last seen, finding the girl curled up in a corner and asleep. Axel had been tempted to go in and wake her up and ask her if she wanted to come along. "Nein," Horst scolded, yanking the firebug away, "let her sleep." Axel made a sort of whine as he glanced back to the room, his eyes settling on the Huntress who had curled up in a corner, but complied with the orders given to him, turning away from Respawn and heading back out. Kelpie waited for a moment, staring inside, before following her two masters out with an excited swish of her tail and a soft yip of eagerness to follow.

"Whht arrh yhh exphhcthhng thh fhhnd?" Axel asked as he fell into step next to Horst, Kelpie by his side, trotting with her tail raised high in the air. The air around them was still, foggy, almost eerie and lifeless if not for Kelpie's excited panting. The fog obstructed their view, blocking anything too far away from them and shrouding the silent battlefield in mystery.

"I don't know, Axel. I don't even know vhy ve are going zhere, but somezhing tells me zhat zhere is somezhing to be found," Horst explained. He was pretty sure there was more to it, something that lay on a more spiritual and magical realm, but being a man of science and logic (and well, first-hand experience magic) he didn't want to jump to conclusions. It was more of a gut-feeling sort of thing pushing him to explore the cave further, something that wasn't really explainable and possibly not-logical. It sounded stupid, but nothing much had made sense over the last few days.

Pyro had fallen silent after Horst's reply, leaving the rusty, burnt gears in his head slowly turning and grinding, working away possibilities and churning up new ones. What was down there? Was it linked to them somehow? Who was this Cyranok guy and what did he want? And what was with that creepy robot head in the basement that shattered the lens of his mask? There were too many questions, some completely unnecessary and others opening up to a whole new set of questions. In his mind he trashed some questions, retaining the others in boxes and shoving them aside for consideration later. Behind the dark lenses his eyes narrowed, as if it would narrow down his thoughts and keep him focused as Horst crawled back under the staircase in the main building of Sawmill and yanked open the trapdoor hatch.

As usual Axel was the first to go down with a small ball of fire glowing in his hand. It made climbing down a ladder a lot more difficult, since he couldn't hold the ladder with the hand that held the pseudo-torch, but like he did the first time, he managed to climb down and get his feet on firm ground without slipping.

The cave seemed a lot more lit than it did the first time for some odd reason, either that or they were just used to the dimness, although Axel lit a scrap of wood as a torch anyway for Horst to bring around with him as he explored the cave, opening boxes, turning over crates, checking in every little thing for any explanation or clue about their powers or anything related to it. Sitting on the shelf was a skull that hadn't been there earlier. It looked far to small to belong to any merc, but it was definitely not an animal's, although a nicely-positioned corpse of a mouse lay next to the skull. Horst ignored it, turning away from the shelf. He'd come back for the skull later, it looked interesting and if it was nothing special, no harm giving Schnaps a new toy to play with as much as the idea of a skull rolling around his office not being the best idea he'd come up with yet.

He turned, a few tiny burning ember flying from the top of his torch as he did so. The embers quickly died out as they landed on the floor and got put out by the dust that settled over it. _Where is that robot head? _He looked around, his eyes quickly scanning the area for the metal head they'd found before. It was lying next to an broken crate, it's eyes cold and dim and dust already beginning to coat it in a nice, thick layer. "Ew," he commented as he dusted it off and picked it up. "By any chance do you suppose ve could use zhis head for anyzhing?" Horst called, not taking his eyes off the robot head. It belonged to a Sniper, presumably one that came from Gray Mann's robot army and got ripped to shreds by them. Axel, who was trying to read words scribbled on the side of a crate, got up. "Mhhght ash whll bhrnng ihht bhhck," he shrugged, refusing to hold the head in case something happened again and he got hit in the face with it.

The German turned the head round in his hand, studying the entire thing. It was a bit dented, but looked pretty intact. If they fit it together with other robot parts maybe it'd work-

That was it. Maybe that was what Terri was so attracted to. Maybe the whole point of doing this was to find enough pieces to rebuild a robot that could tell them something at the very least. If that wasn't it, then Terri being so attracted to collecting robot parts made no sense at all. That was the only logical answer at the moment and it seemed crazy enough to try. And if it didn't work, then at least they'd have something to bring back to their teams back in Teufort to prove they had actually done something instead of just lazing around.

"I zhink I got it…" Horst breathed as the idea struck him. Axel made a 'hmm?' sound and looked up, though his arms were crossed over his chest in mild interest. "Vhat if… ve vere supposed to collect zhese robot parts to make a robot?" Axel cocked his head to one side. "Whht whhld whh dhh whhth thh rhbhht?"

Good question, he hadn't thought that through. "Ach, vhy does it matter now? No harm no foul, Firecracker." Things seemed to be falling into place now, making more sense and finally forming a picture. "It's so stupid it could vork, Pyro." Axel still didn't seem convinced, though Horst had no time to bother with what he thought. Till they collected every piece, they could lock the head in a crate in his room, although they'd need to speak with Engineer to get him to help them.

"Ah'm sorry pardner, but you want me to _what?_" Engineer asked. While his goggles hid his eyes, Horst could tell he really wasn't believing their request. "Zhat's right, mein friend. Vonce ve get all zhe pieces ve vant you to construct it for us." Engineer raised a hand. "Hold up. Who's, 'we'?" Horst glanced at Axel, getting a look back. "Vell, just zhe two of us and Terri," he shrugged.

"And why is the lady involved in this?" Engineer asked. Horst rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, Engineer. Stop asking questions and just do it, vill you? You'll find out all the answers if you agree to do it," Horst said. Now thinking about it, he probably should have spoken to Terri about letting Engineer in on the whole idea before actually doing it, but if Engineer agreed…

"Alright, Ah'll do it." … then she'd have to let him. Brilliant. "Danke, Engineer. I'll bring all zhe pieces to you alzhough I vill need a blueprint of how zhe robot works so I know vhatever I need to collect," Horst said, folding his arms across his chest in satisfaction now that they got Engineer to do it. If there was one good thing about the Texan, he didn't really question the doctor.

Now all they needed to do was get the blueprints and collect the pieces that would help them finish the puzzle and unlock a whole new level.


End file.
